NASA plans new mission to Jupiter
 |  Jupiter, photographed from the Cassani spacecraft in 2003. |
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(CNN) -- NASA has unveiled preliminary details of a mission to Jupiter that would enable scientists to conduct their most in-depth study of the solar system's largest planet.
The $700 million "Juno" mission, part of NASA's New Frontiers Program, must be ready for launch by June 30, 2010, although it would take five years for the solar-powered probe to reach its destination.
Juno would be placed in a pole-to-pole orbit, enabling it to study the gas planet's intense magnetic field, investigate the existence of an ice-rock core and determine the amount of water and ammonia present in the atmosphere.
It would also study Jupiter's violent winds, which reach speeds of 600 kilometers an hour, and the planet's spectacular auroras.
"The Juno mission will provide the critical information needed to understand how the solar system's largest planet, Jupiter, formed several billion years ago," said Dr. David J. McComas of the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI), which will lead the mission.
SWRI will now conduct a preliminary design study to test the mission's financial and technical feasibility ahead of a final NASA review to determine whether the mission will go ahead.
"We are excited at the prospect of the new scientific understanding and discoveries by Juno in our continued exploration of the outer reaches of our solar system during the next decade," said Dr. Ghassem Asrar of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
The only previous probe to send data back from the Jovian atmosphere was released from the Galilieo orbiter in 1995, sending back information for 58 minutes before being destroyed by the planet's extreme pressure and harsh radioactivity. In 2003, Galileo itself also descended to its death.
The New Frontiers Program aims to further exploration of the solar system's planets, comets and asteroids.
The project's first mission, which is scheduled to launch in 2006, will send a probe to the outer reaches of the solar system, visiting Pluto and its moon Charon in 2015.
