REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PARIS — A European spacecraft flew to explore on Friday (14/4/2023). This flight is a program to explore Jupiter and its three icy moons.
The journey begins with an early morning liftoff on a European-owned Ariane rocket from French Guiana in South America. Dubbed robotic explorer Juice it takes eight years to reach Jupiter. Juice is short for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer.
The spacecraft will not only reach the largest planets in the solar system but also Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede. Three ice-encrusted moons are believed to hold underground oceans, where marine life likely exists.
Then perhaps the most impressive feat of all, Juice will attempt to orbit around Ganymede. Until now no spacecraft has ever orbited another planet’s moon, besides Earth’s moon.
With a total of 95 moons, astronomers consider Jupiter to be its own mini-solar system, with missions like Juice long overdue. “We will not detect life with Juice,” said European Space Agency project scientist Olivier Witasse.
But learning more about Jupiter’s moons and potential oceans will bring scientists closer to answering questions about life elsewhere. “That will be the most exciting aspect of the mission,” said Witasse.
Juice takes a long circuitous route to Jupiter, with 6.6 billion kilometers. The plane will dive within 200 kilometers of Callisto and 400 kilometers of Europa and Ganymede. Later the robotic explorer completed 35 flybys while circling Jupiter. It will then hit the brakes to orbit Ganymede, the main target of the 1.6 billion euro mission.
Ganymede is not only the largest moon in the solar system. The satellite also has its own magnetic field with dazzling auroras at the poles.
More interestingly, the moon is thought to have underground oceans that hold more water than Earth. Europa and Callisto are also potential destinations for humans given their distance from Jupiter’s debilitating radiation belts.
“The ocean worlds in our solar system are the most likely to harbor life, so these large moons of Jupiter are prime candidates for exploration,” said Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institutio who was not involved with the Juice mission.
The spacecraft, about the size of a small bus, won’t reach Jupiter until 2031. It will rely on flybys of Earth and the moon, as well as gravity-assisted Venus.
“These things take time and they change our world,” said Planetary Societ chief executive Bill Nye.
Juice will spend three years at Callisto, Europa and Ganymede. The spacecraft will attempt to enter orbit around Ganymede in late 2034, circling the moon for nearly a year before flight controllers send it crashing in 2035, later if fuel lasts.
Europa is of great interest to scientists hunting for signs of extraterrestrial life. Juice will minimize its encounter with Europa, due to the intense radiation there is so close to Jupiter.
Juice’s sensitive electronics are encased in tin to protect against radiation. The 6,350 kilogram spacecraft is also wrapped in a thermal blanket because temperatures near Jupiter hover around minus 230 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, the plane’s solar panels stretch 27 meters from end to end to absorb as much sunlight as it is further away from the sun.
Late next year, the United States Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will send the more protected Europa Clipper spacecraft to Jupiter. This craft will beat Juice to Jupiter by just over a year as it will be launched on a more powerful SpaceX rocket. The two spacecraft will work together to study Europa.
NASA has long dominated exploration of Jupiter, starting with flybys in the 1970s by the Pioneer twins and then Voyager. Only one spacecraft remains buzzing at Jupiter, NASA’s Juno which has just entered its 50th orbit since 2016.
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