NASA's Juno spacecraft will miss close encounter with interstellar comet
NASA's Juno spacecraft was supposed to swing by the rare interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS near Jupiter in March 2026, but that meetup isn't happening.
Budget issues and Juno's mission ending meant NASA did not confirm executing a crucial engine burn on September 9, 2025—the move that would have set up the close encounter.
3I/ATLAS is the 3rd known interstellar comet
The missed maneuver was part of a plan called a Jupiter Oberth maneuver, which could have changed Juno's path just in time for the comet's visit.
Discovered by the ATLAS telescope, 3I/ATLAS is only the third known object from outside our Solar System zooming through at a wild speed of 61km/s.
If Juno had caught up, scientists could have used its instruments to learn more about where this visitor came from and what it's made of.
No close-up data on this rare interstellar traveler
With no trajectory change for Juno, there won't be any close-up data on this rare interstellar traveler when it swings past Jupiter in March 2026.
It's a real loss for space science—these chances don't come around often, and now we'll have to wait even longer for another shot at studying an object like this up close.