SPACE MATH @ NASA | Investigating Juno’s Elliptical Transfer Orbit

The Juno spacecraft was initially placed in an elliptical orbit near Earth soon after its launch on August 5, 2011. The orbit was elliptical and designed so that a Deep Space Maneuver in August 2012 would send the spacecraft into a flyby of Earth in 2013. 

This encounter with Earth would boost the spacecraft’s speed and place it into an elliptical transfer orbit that would intersect Jupiter’s orbit in 2016.

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