Three 1.5-inch LEGO’s will go down in history for being aboard the first spacecraft to ever enter Jupiter’s orbit. These figures are Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno and Galileo Galilei. The figurines mission is part of the Bricks in Space project, a collaboration with LEGO and NASA to encourage children to become more engaged with space exploration, science and technology.
After traveling 1.8 billion miles for five years, NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully reached the gas planet as of Monday, July 4. Juno launched in 2011 in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and has been monitored at the navigation facility at NASA’s Jet monitored at the navigation facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California and the Lockheed Martin Juno operations center in Littleton, Colorado.
According to NASA, the purpose of the mission is to investigate “ planetary core, map the magnetic field, and measure the amount of water and ammonia in the atmosphere.”
In order to survive Jupiter’s harsh environment the LEGO pieces were specially constructed out of aluminum with the consideration of having a “non-magnetic metal that would not interfere with other equipment,” according to a LEGO spokesperson in an email to Mashable.
The LEGO website has tracked the minifigures journey in addition to including educational videos about space, a LEGOnaut game and facts about the planet and the mission. Unfortunately, the trio is on a suicide mission and will not return to Earth. After orbiting the giant planet for 20 months (33 revolutions) collecting data, the ship will deliberately plummet into Jupiter’s atmosphere and disintegrate.
You can updates about the mission @NASAJuno or hashtag #NASAJuno