Juno: Earth Fly-by today

[Meithan]

Thanks for keeping us updated, PakledHostage.

So it appears that the spacecraft went into "Safe Mode" after emerging from the night side of the Earth. Fortunately, it seems that the slingshot was successful (well, it's not a powered maneuver, so it'd work even with the spacecraft unoperational) and the spacecraft is en route to a Jupiter encounter:

"The gravity-assist flyby was a totally passive event in terms of propulsion for the spacecraft, so the safe mode has no effect whatsoever on Juno's planned trajectory; it's on its way to Jupiter. Nybakken told me they hit the target within 2 kilometers."

Let's just hope the safe mode is something they can fix. Bon voyage, Juno!

Also, rkman, that paper model looks awesome!

[Meithan]

In case anyone wondered, Juno safely exited from "safe mode" on friday:

Juno spacecraft recovers from fault after Earth flyby

It's on its way to a Jupiter encounter on July 4th, 2016. Delta-v gained from the gravitational slingshot: 7.1 km/s !

You might also want to have a look the some of the pictures taken by Juno during the Earth flyby.