Juno at Jupiter – July 4th, 2016

After a five-year journey through the solar system, NASA’s Juno spacecraft is scheduled for orbital insertion on Monday, July 4th. Due to the time delay between Earth and Jupiter, the insertion will be in the hands of the computers aboard the spacecraft, and mission specialists will have to wait48 minutesto know if it was a success.

Sounds a lot like those long moments of terror when Curiosity plunged towards Mars four years ago.

If all goes well, Juno will study Jupiter and its moons much a...