Juno Science Team Meeting Funding

The NASA Juno mission arrives at Jupiter in July 2016 for a ~1.5 year exploration of the planet. The main goals of the mission are to study the interior structure of Jupiter through very close measurements of the gravity and magnetic fields and atmosphere during 14 day polar orbits. At the closest point Juno will swoop just 4300 km above the cloud tops. During the polar orbits Juno will cross through the magnetic field lines which connect the rapidly rotating magnetosphere to the polar auroral emissions. We have a long history of involvement in the analysis of data and theoretical modelling of the gas giant magnetospheres at the University of Leicester, and for this reason Prof Stan Cowley was made a Science Co Investigator on the mission.

The funding requested here would enable participation in the Science Working Team meetings based in the United States, allowing the Leicester team to take part in the first analysis of the Juno data with the US team.

Outreach
The main source of impact from the Juno project will be in the form of public outreach and education activities. We are already engaged with activities and lectures at schools and will continue to work closely with them throughout the mission. We regularly engage with outreach opportunities with astronomical societies, the National Space Centre and beyond. We aim to promote the mission and the new science discoveries as they are made through press releases, interviews with the media, and via social media platforms.