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New Spacecraft Set For Dangerous Jupiter Trip

Posted by kdawson on from the by-jove dept.

solaGratia passes along word of the equipping of Juno, the most heavily armored craft ever to be launched to another planet. The launch is scheduled for a year from now. "In a specially filtered cleanroom in Denver, where Juno is being assembled, engineers recently added a unique protective shield around its sensitive electronics. ... 'For the 15 months Juno orbits Jupiter, the spacecraft will have to withstand the equivalent of more than 100 million dental X-rays,' said... Juno's radiation control manager... [The] titanium box — about the size of an SUV's trunk — encloses Juno's command and data handling box..., power and data distribution unit..., and about 20 other electronic assemblies. The whole vault weighs about 200 kilograms (500 pounds)."

6 of 159 comments (clear)

  1. Re:why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    To look for the monolith of course.

  2. Re:SUV's trunk... by Martin+Blank · · Score: 4, Funny

    It does when an elephant is driving.

    --
    You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
  3. Re:SUV's trunk... by SheeEttin · · Score: 4, Funny
    Heh... reminds me of a joke.

    How many elephants can you fit in a Volkswagen Beetle?
    Four. Two in the front, two in the back.

    ...which is the set-up to the real joke:

    How can you tell when there's an elephant in your fridge?
    - There's elephant prints in the butter.
    How can you tell when there's TWO elephants in your fridge?
    - There's two sets of prints in the butter.
    How can you tell when there's THREE elephants in your fridge?
    - The door won't close.
    How can you tell when there's FOUR elephants in your fridge?
    - There's a Volkswagen Beetle in your driveway.

  4. Re:those are good questions by QuantumG · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fat planet eats too many sweets.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  5. Re:100 million dental X-rays by dangitman · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, in this case it would be Librarians of Congress with tooth decay per fortnight.

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.
  6. Re:SUV trunks? by loufoque · · Score: 4, Funny

    Has the US population degraded to the point that we can't figure out what a square meter is? Do we need to measure volume in terms of SUV trunks?

    It seems to have degraded to the point of confusing surface and volume.
    Volume is in cube meters.