The Juno spacecraft takes a close-up portrait of the surface of Jupiter’s satellite

KOMPAS.com – Spaceship Juno NASA managed to photograph the satellite Jupiter named Europe after performing a close-range cross-fly.

Photo taken by Juno from 315 kilometers above the surface of Europa. This places Juno only slightly farther from Europa than the previous flyby carried out by the Galileo spacecraft more than 20 years ago.

“Juno’s flight over Europa was a huge success. This first image is just a taste of the new science generated by Juno’s entire suite of instruments and sensors,” said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno at the Southwest Research Institute. of San Antonio, Texas.

To collect Gizmodo, Saturday (1/10/2022); Europa is slightly smaller than the Moon. anyway The satellite of Jupiter This is of interest to scientists.

Read also: 5 Characteristics of the planet Jupiter

Its surface is of dense frozen ice. However, researchers think there is a salty ocean lying beneath its surface.

If true, the subsoil of Europa would be a great place for life. This is what makes NASA consider Europe worthy of further investigation.

From the latest images taken by Juno, the researchers noticed a rough surface feature that may have been an impact crater.

With these images, the researchers were then able to compare them to images taken by the Galileo spacecraft in 2000, allowing the team to investigate whether surface characteristics have changed.

Read also: 5 Facts about Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system

Candy Hansen, another Juno researcher, added that the new images will help replace the old low-resolution images of Europa’s surface.

In addition, the images will also help pave the way for the Europa Clipper mission in Europe.

The launch of the probe is scheduled for 2024 and arrival in Europe in 2030. The mission will investigate the surface, the atmosphere and, above all, the interior of the satellite.

Studying the interior of the satellite will help scientists understand the structure of Europa’s ice and where liquid water might lie beneath its surface.

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