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October 10, 2013

NASA troubleshooting Jupiter-bound spacecraft

NASA troubleshooting Jupiter-bound spacecraft
This 2010 artist's rendering depicts NASA's Juno spacecraft with Jupiter in the background. NASA's Jupiter-bound spacecraft will swing by Earth for one last visit Wednesday Oct. 9, 2013 before speeding to the outer solar system. Wednesday's flyby allows the Juno spacecraft to gather the momentum it needs to arrive at Jupiter in 2016. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL, File)

NASA says it'll spend the next several days diagnosing a problem with the Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft that appeared after it buzzed past Earth to propel itself toward the giant planet.

Work continued Thursday to figure out why the mission hit a snag after Juno emerged from Earth's shadow following Wednesday's rendezvous, which put it on course for an arrival in 2016.

Juno is in contact with Earth, but not all of its instruments are powered up.

Chief scientist Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute says Juno does not appear to be damaged and there's no sign it was hit by a .

An Earth flyby was executed because the rocket that launched Juno two years ago was not powerful enough to boost it all the way to Jupiter.

© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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