Video: Flying to Jupiter on Just Enough Solar Power to Run a Blender
This artist's rendering shows NASA's Juno spacecraft above the north pole of Jupiter. NASA
This spacecraft will do more than make smoothies, however.
In less than two weeks, humanity's most distant solar-powered spacecraft will reach its destination: The planet Jupiter, 1.7 billion miles from Earth.
Named Juno, the craft contains three massive solar arrays, each 29 feet long and weighing about 250 lbs, making the entire craft unfurled about 65 feet across -- the size of a basketball court.
Why so huge?
If Juno's arrays were here on Earth, they would generate 14 kilowatts of power. On Jupiter, it will only be about 500 watts of power.
"We need to have a lot of area on our solar arrays because the spacecraft is so far away from the sun," said Tracy Drain, Juno deputy chief engineer. "And also over the last 20 years, we've had about a 50 percent increase in solar array efficiency."
Keep an eye out for Juno to reach Jupiter on July 4. To learn more, check out the video below from NASA: