European Space Agency launches probe today
‘Juice’ flight using gravity of Earth, Moon and Venus
Eight-year forecast to enter orbit in 2031
Observation main mission of 3 ‘Galilean satellites’
December 2034 Ganymede intensive exploration
NASA to start exploring Jupiter’s moons next year
Collaborating with ESA… high expectations
The size of Jupiter’s moons compared to the planets and moons of the Solar System. From left: Earth, Venus, Mars, Ganymede (Jupiter’s moon), Titan (Jupiter’s moon), Mercury, Callisto (Jupiter’s moon), Io (Jupiter’s moon), Moon (Earth), Europa (Jupiter’s moon), Triton (Neptune’s moon) , Pluto. Courtesy of NASA
The moon is the only time humans have set foot on a celestial body other than Earth. It has not been long since the exploration of Mars, the planet right next to Earth, has begun in earnest. However, beyond the moon and Mars, the journey to find traces of life on Jupiter, the fifth planet and the largest in the solar system, begins soon.
The European Space Agency (ESA) will launch the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) probe from the French Guiana Space Center in South America at 9:15 am on the 13th (8:15 pm Korean time).
Jupiter is also called the ‘small solar system’ because it has many moons. In fact, in February, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Minor Planet Center (MPC) recognized 12 Jupiter moons discovered by the Carnegie Institute for Science in the United States, bringing the number of Jupiter’s moons to 92. It is the planet with the most satellites in the solar system.
The most famous of Jupiter’s many moons are the ‘Galilean moons’. As the name suggests, these are four satellites discovered in 1610 by the Italian physicist Galileo Galilei using a refracting telescope he made himself. The four moons have been named Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. The main mission of the Juice probe is to observe three icy moons, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, except for the hot moon Io with volcanoes.
ESA scientists speculate that deep beneath the surfaces of these three icy moons there might be vast oceans of liquid water, one of the prerequisites for life to exist. Scientists predict that Europa, which is smaller than the moon, has water flowing under a surface layer of ice 15 to 25 kilometers thick. In fact, in 2016, the Hubble Space Telescope observed a water column rising from the surface of Europa. For this reason, it is believed that traces of life can be found on Europa and other icy moons.
It is expected that the newly launched Juice probe will take about eight years to reach Jupiter. The reason it takes so long to travel to Jupiter is because of the flyby using the gravity of Earth, Moon and Venus. Flyby, which means close flight, is also a way to save fuel used for flight by gaining propulsion while pushing and pulling using the gravity of planets and satellites. The Juice probe is scheduled to enter Jupiter orbit in July 2031, but scientific research will begin in January of the same year, six months before entering orbit.
An illustration of the Juice probe exploring Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, which is smaller than the moon. Provided by ESA
After entering Jupiter orbit in 2031, the Juice probe will perform exploration activities by flying close to three satellites in a fly-by method until 2034, and then enter Ganymede orbit in December 2034 to perform the mission. The reason why the Juice probe is intensively exploring Ganymede is because it is farther from Jupiter than other Galilean moons, so it is less affected by Jupiter’s magnetic field, and it is considered that the possibility of life exists that much.
Meanwhile, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will also launch the Jupiter satellite probe ‘Europa Clipper’ next year. Europa Clipper launches later, but plans to focus on Europa after entering Jupiter orbit in 2030, a year earlier than the Juice probe. Accordingly, from 2031, NASA and ESA will jointly explore the life traces and oceans of Europa’s satellite.
Astronomers are not hiding their expectations, saying, “If we find traces of life here, it shows that life evolved separately in the two places only in the solar system, which means that life is likely all over the galaxy.”
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