How important is Juno orbiting Jupiter?

It is up there with landing on the Moon and Mars, historical in my option.

A one billion dollar gamble. Success ok. Failure loss of faith.

Very. It is an important mission by itself. But it is part of a larger cause. It is a ‘stepping stone. ’
Lessons learned and shared will ultimately lead to our expansion, beyond current or accepted limitations of physics , or the understood rules of the universe. It is a milestone for humanity. It is also important to have knowledge of your / our surroundings…

Will in the long term have very little importance to anything. Another experiment, be it an expensive one, nothing more.

Jupiter is very likely the first planet to have formed in this star system. Studying Jupiter can tell us a lot about the formation of the star system. That is worth the cost, much of which has already been paid. Of course, we could have just saved the money for military uses—it would pay for one quarter of a supercarrier.

It’s not that Juno is important, what’s important is that we need to feel like we are advancing somehow, somewhere, even if the advances are all phony. We want our banks and our courts to have stone columns in front, signifying stability even though what goes on inside is frivolous and dishonest any way you look at it. NASA does not deal in stability, it deals in progress, so it has to show something like progress, even if it is nothing more that a “gee whiz” accomplishment. That is why they declare a discovery of water on Mars every time somebody farts.

Space exploration may not seem to be our number one planetary priority in the face of global terrorism, disease, poverty and war (to name only a few). But when you consider the impending dire effects of global climate change—whicht one of the two people running for president of the United States denies—it’s hard (at least for me) not to see the value of exploring sister planets, one of which we may well be foreced to inhabit one day.

It is mind boggling that we can do such a thing. Did you know that Jupiter is so far away that it takes 48 minutes for a signal from Juno to reach Earth? The pursuit of knowledge is worthwhile end in itself. Scientists are saying that information from Juno will tell us about the early Universe and may even help explain the laws of the universe. For those who complain about the cost, consider the inventions that NASA provided through the space program.

@LostInParadise, wish I could give you multiple GAs.

A very good point is made about the pay-off from NASA’s program.

I just learned that the Juno probe is the first SOLAR POWERED probe, so this is a big step in protecting the environment.

One of the many benefits from the old Mercury and Apollo programs is miniaturization. The devices we carry around in our pockets are capable of more computing power (not just memory) than was in the control room when Yuri Gagarin or Alan Shepard made the first manned suborbital flights.

That’s just one example. I am sure there will be world-changing tech advances we can not anticipate.

It is freaking fantastic! So much info, knowledge, conjecture, and really, really cool stuff to see for the first time. Gazed upon in wonder by earth-bound thinkers since the beginning of our ‘minute before midnight’ place in the eternity of space.
Or perhaps the US can beat other grabby nations for the mineral rights there, now that the moon has been ‘dibbed’ to the gills.
Or, just another pretty teeney weeny sparkle in the monster’s marble like at the end of Men In Black…....
You look to the depths of the ocean, I need the stars and all in space. What discussions may result!