NASA set to launch spacecraft to Jupiter

bbc.co.uk - The American space agency, NASA, is planning to launch a new mission to Jupiter today.

The unmanned solar-powered spacecraft, called Juno, will take five years to reach the planet -- the largest in the solar system.

Once there, it will make thirty polar orbits in a bid to discover how much water is in Jupiter's atmosphere and whether the gas giant has a solid core.

The chief scientist on the project (Scott Bolton) said Jupiter held the secret to understanding how all the planets, including Earth, were formed.