Europe’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft will launch on an ambitious exploration tour of Jupiter’s moons next week. But the mission will only glimpse Europa’s potentially life-giving moon. Here’s why.
survives on as little as half the power of a hairdryer and features a “nuclear bunker” to protect its electronics from radiation, Jupiter Ice Moon Explorer (JUICE) This is a technological marvel that will not stand against it Europe For a long time. smaller JupiterThe four main moons are probably the most likely locations in the world Solar system to host extraterrestrial life in ice-covered oceans; However, the environment around the moon is so harsh, that it will kill the spacecraft within a few months at most, according to NASA.
Going to Jupiter is never easy. I’m getting closer gas giant And the longer you stay around it, the harder it becomes. Five times from sun From Earth, Jupiter lives in the twilight zone of the solar system, receiving only about 4% of the sunlight that our planet gets. This means that any visiting spacecraft that wants to rely on solar energy must have a very large solar array. The challenge only starts here. Jupiter’s magnetic field is 10,000 times stronger than Jupiter’s Land, which could impact the spacecraft’s scientific measurements, Justin Byrne, head of the science program at Airbus Defense and Space, which leads the consortium that built the JUICE spacecraft, told Space.com. Worst of all, this powerful magnetic field traps particles charged by Jupiter and its nearby hypervolcanically active moons. Ayo Pumping space around the planet. As a result, the radiation level near the planet is as high as the epicenter of a nuclear explosion.
Related: Ha! Closest view of Jupiter’s moon in Europa’s ocean in 22 years
Satellite radiation sickness
Europa orbits Jupiter at a distance of 417,000 miles (671,000 km), nearly twice the distance between the Moon and Earth, and is the second closest moon to Jupiter. Radiation levels around Europa are not as high as those around nearby Io, however, scientists know that the radiation dose that objects in orbit around Europa will receive in one day, at 5.4 Sv, is more than twice what it should be. cause severe radiation sickness in humans. Of course, the starship was not human, but Byrne acknowledged that the radiation levels were beyond what spacecraft designers are used to.
“We are very used to radiation in space,” Byrne said. “Earth-orbiting missions must pass Earth radiation beltBut the radiation levels are not far from what a spacecraft would experience near Jupiter.”
High radiation levels are bad news for electronics and solar panels. The higher the radiation intensity, Byrne said, the faster electronic systems fail, and the faster the solar array degrades. For this reason, specifically NASA European cutter The mission will not search for traces of life on Europa directly from lunar orbit, but will make periodic short visits while in a wider orbit around Jupiter. It is for this reason that the European Space Agency (ESA) chose Jupiter’s largest and somewhat more comfortable moon Ganymedeas the main goal of JUICE.
Convenient Ganymede
Although Ganymede is less likely to harbor life than Europa, according to scientists, the moon is far from boring. Bigger than the smallest planet in the solar system MercuryGanymede is the largest moon in the entire solar system and the only one known to generate its own magnetic field. In 2034, three years after JUICE arrives at Jupiter (if all goes according to plan), Ganymede will be the first moon far from Earth’s moon. moon a spaceship in orbit.
Ganymede orbits Jupiter at a distance of 665,000 miles (1,070,000 km), and is the third closest to the gas giants of the four major moons. Byrne said that the radiation around Ganymede is about 100 times weaker than in Europe. However, the JUICE spacecraft would not be able to survive long in this environment without some of the workarounds used beforehand.
At the center of the spacecraft is a 2.7 ton (2.42 metric tons) lead-plated dome that houses all of the spacecraft’s electronics (except for science instruments designed to study the extreme environments of the Jupiter system).
“There were several pounds of lead in the juice,” Byrne said. “This effectively limits the amount of radiation that can reach electronic devices and extends their lifespan. But in the end, they will die. You can’t stop it forever.”
If the spacecraft is to go to Europe, Byrne added, these tiny lead-lined nuclear bunkers have to be stronger.
Solar panel death
But while there are solutions to protect electronic systems, solar panels are quite vulnerable to radiation. Byrne believes the degradation of the juice’s solar panels in the harsh environment around Jupiter will lead to the mission’s demise.
Given Jupiter’s distance from the Sun and the low intensity of sunlight around the planet, JUICE’s solar panels must be huge. Designed as two cruciform wings, the two assemblies cover an area of 915 square feet (85 square meters). Despite their enormous size and clocking in at about 30% efficiency, the array doesn’t even generate enough electricity to power a hairdryer, Byrne said.
“It’s really a minuscule amount of energy, and as it deteriorates over its lifetime due to radiation, its performance will degrade to the point where there simply won’t be enough energy to perform the task,” Byrne said.
JUICE is designed to last four years orbiting first Jupiter and then Ganymede. Before entering Ganymede orbit, the spacecraft will make two flybys of Europa, 21 of which are the farthest and least explored moon. Callistoand 12 in Ganymede. Byrne believes Airbus engineers and collaborators from across Europe have built a spacecraft powerful enough to complete its mission. However, JUICE is unlikely to exceed life expectancy, unlike many other missions.
“It may last a little longer but it won’t last 10 years like many of the other missions,” Byrne said.
In addition to the intense radiation environment, the mission will also consume large amounts of fuel due to the large number of fuel-consuming flights from jupiter moon.
“There’s going to be a lot of course corrections, changes in direction,” Byrne said. “It will take a lot of fuel. So you’re either going to run out of fuel first, or the solar array is going to decompose, and that’s going to get the job done.”
The operator wants to complete the JUICE mission in time by sending it to Ganymede to prevent the spaceship from turning into an uncontrollable part. space trash And it will most likely crash into Europa later, polluting it with terrestrial microbes. Because scientists think Ganymede is unlikely to harbor life, and because its surface doesn’t appear to be in contact with the ocean beneath its surface (unlike Europa, which is more active), experts aren’t concerned about JUICE interfering with the moon’s purity. ice crust. .
So what does it take to send the juice into orbit around Europe?
But with all these challenges, does that mean it’s impossible for a spacecraft to orbit Europa, the most likely place in the solar system to host extraterrestrial life?
Byrne said engineers are currently studying this possibility in hopes of sending a sterilized lander to Europe in the distant future.
“It’s a challenge to watch,” said Bayern. “You’re going to need a lot more protection for the electronics and maybe a much larger solar array. That means more mass. But we might be able to do it.”
Such a task, according to ESA’s JUICE launch kit (Opens in a new tab), didn’t take off until years after JUICE and NASA’s Clipper (scheduled to launch next year) completed their missions. Two tasks, which will succeed Juno from NASA The spacecraft, which has been studying Jupiter since 2016, is setting the stage for our latest encounter with potential microbial life on Europa.
Follow Teresa Poltarova on Twitter @employee (Opens in a new tab). Follow us in twitter @employee (Opens in a new tab) and so on Facebook (Opens in a new tab).
