Science & Technology

Juno’s last orbit: NASA’s Jupiter mission set to end next month

The spacecraft outlived its planned lifespan, beaming back breathtaking images and discoveries that changed planetary science
Titles Jupiter Marble (2019), this colour-enhanced view of Jupiter shows the iconic Great Red Spot alongside the swirling turbulence of the southern hemisphere. Made from three images taken during a close pass in February 2019, it highlights the dramatic contrasts in Jupiter’s atmosphere. Citizen scientist Kevin M Gill processed the raw JunoCam data to create the image.
This colour-enhanced view of Jupiter shows the iconic Great Red Spot alongside the swirling turbulence of the southern hemisphere. Made from three images taken during a close pass in February 2019, it highlights the dramatic contrasts in Jupiter’s atmosphere. Citizen scientist Kevin M Gill processed the raw JunoCam data to create the image.Enhanced image by Kevin M. Gill (CC-BY) based on images provided courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
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Juno, a United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration spacecraft sent to study Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System, is now set to end its mission in September 2025, when it will finally be pulled into the planet’s atmosphere and destroyed.

From 32,000 miles above the planet, Juno captured a unique look at the south pole. The oval features dominating the image are cyclones, each up to 600 miles across. By combining multiple JunoCam passes, scientists were able to piece together a stereographic projection in enhanced colour, revealing the scale and organisation of Jupiter’s polar storms.
From 32,000 miles above the planet, Juno captured a unique look at the south pole. The oval features dominating the image are cyclones, each up to 600 miles across. By combining multiple JunoCam passes, scientists were able to piece together a stereographic projection in enhanced colour, revealing the scale and organisation of Jupiter’s polar storms.NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Betsy Asher Hall/Gervasio Robles

It was launched in 2011 and arrived at Jupiter in July 2016, after a five-year journey covering 1.7 billion miles. Since then, it has endured the giant planet’s intense radiation and revealed its atmosphere, weather systems and moons in unprecedented detail. Originally designed for 33 orbits, Juno far outlived its expected lifespan.

During a close flyby of Jupiter's moon Io in October 2023, JunoCam recorded a plume erupting from the volcano Prometheus. The faint column of material can be seen just beyond the terminator line dividing day and night on the moon’s surface. It is a rare direct glimpse of Io’s ongoing volcanic activity, which makes the moon the most geologically active body in the Solar System.
During a close flyby of Jupiter's moon Io in October 2023, JunoCam recorded a plume erupting from the volcano Prometheus. The faint column of material can be seen just beyond the terminator line dividing day and night on the moon’s surface. It is a rare direct glimpse of Io’s ongoing volcanic activity, which makes the moon the most geologically active body in the Solar System.NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

The spacecraft orbits the planet in long, looping paths that take it very close to the cloud tops and then far out beyond Jupiter’s radiation belts. This unusual orbit helps protect the spacecraft’s instruments from the planet’s extreme radiation.

Juno also captured the glow of a lightning strike within a vortex near the planet’s north pole. Unlike Earth, where lightning originates from water clouds near the equator, on Jupiter it is thought to form in ammonia-water clouds and occurs more frequently near the poles. This December 2020 image, later processed by citizen scientist Kevin M Gill, shows the dramatic moment as seen from nearly 20,000 miles above the cloud tops.
Juno also captured the glow of a lightning strike within a vortex near the planet’s north pole. Unlike Earth, where lightning originates from water clouds near the equator, on Jupiter it is thought to form in ammonia-water clouds and occurs more frequently near the poles. This December 2020 image, later processed by citizen scientist Kevin M Gill, shows the dramatic moment as seen from nearly 20,000 miles above the cloud tops.NASA/JPL-Caltech

Like its namesake from Roman mythology, Juno has been able to pierce Jupiter’s veil of clouds, exposing its true nature. The spacecraft has transformed our understanding of Jupiter’s atmosphere and interior, reshaping ideas about how giant planets — and the Solar System itself — formed. Its on-board camera, JunoCam, has also captured images that have captivated the public, with raw data processed by citizen scientists around the world.

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