The federal government shutdown will not stop NASA's Juno spacecraft as it is bound to pass by Earth on its way to Jupiter, the Associated Press reported.
The 97 percent of NASA employees currently on unpaid leave for the time being will likely be back to work before Juno reaches the gas giant in 2016. Wednesday, the orbiter will zip around Earth like a slingshot, using gravity to get the boost it needs to meet its arrival date.
Juno launched in 2011, orbited Mars, propelled itself towards Earth and will finally make its momentum-swinging orbit to began traveling to Jupiter. The spacecraft will pass over South Africa's ocean coast as it emerges, coming as close as 350 miles above the Earth's surface.
People with small telescopes and even binoculars in India and South Africa should be able to see Juno race across the sky, weather permitting. As it passes Earth, Juno will use its JunoCam equipment to take photos of the planet and of the moon.
"Our expectation is we will come through nice and clean," said project manager Rick Nybakken of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $1.1 billion mission.
In comparison to dramatic Mars landing of Curiosity, Juno's Earth flyby should be a cakewalk. Despite only three percent of its employees still coming to work during the shutdown, the mission is expected to be low-key and easily manageable. Also during the shutdown, NASA launched its LADEE spacecraft earlier this week.
Reporting a solid mission so far, chief scientist Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute, said he expects Juno to arrive at Jupiter, completing a 1.7 billion mile trek, on July 4, 2016.
"The mission is going great and after this flyby of Earth, our next stop is Jupiter," he said in a statement. "Juno will take never-before-seen images of the Earth-Moon system, giving us a chance to see what we look like from Mars or Jupiter."
