Public Lecture July 2016: Dr Scott Bolton, Principal Investigator for JUNO’s Mission to Jupiter

Special treat for Auckland space mission followers.

It’s a rare opportunity to hear from a senior NASA mission scientist, especially while a mission is still operational.  That opportunity came to AUT on 29 July when the US Embassy alerted Professor Sergei Gulyaev that Dr Scott Bolton, Principal Investigator for NASA’s Juno Mission to Jupiter, was visiting Auckland and happy to give a public lecture on “Juno: Mission to Jupiter”.  The turn-out was excellent given the short notice, with around a hundred turning up on a Friday night.

We were treated to a fascinating presentation covering the conception of the mission to the launch in 2011 and the triumph on 4 July this year when Juno began orbiting Jupiter.  Jupiter presents a unique challenge - the oldest and largest planet in our solar system, it has the harshest radiation, the strongest gravity and a powerful magnetic field.  We heard how Juno was built to be tough with a titanium vault to protect its scientific instruments and powered by three massive Solar Arrays giving it a 20m span.  NASA is anticipating many amazing discoveries before the mission is over.

Dr Bolton spoke to the NZ Herald and RNZ while in New Zealand.