On Thursday morning, NASA’s Juno spacecraft dived 358 kilometers from the surface of Europa, the large ice-covered moon orbiting Jupiter.
This flyby will give humanity a closer look at Europe since the Galileo mission performed several short-haul flights more than two decades ago. However, the Juno spacecraft will carry a much more powerful instrument cluster and much more capable cameras than Galileo. So this has to be the best attractive display in the world.
Launched in 2011, Juno arrived on Jupiter in 2016 to closely study the composition of the largest planet in the solar system, as well as its powerful magnetosphere. After successfully completing its main mission in 2021, mission operator Juno began using probes to evaluate satellites in the Jovian system, including Europa, Ganymede, and Io.
Given Juno’s current orbit and Jupiter’s enormous gravitational field, the orbital dynamics of Europa’s flight are challenging to say the least and Juno had to make major changes to her trajectory.
“The relative speed between the spacecraft and the moon will be 23.6 kilometers per second, so we scream very fast”, John Purdy said, Giunone is deputy director of the mission at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “All the steps must go clockwise to successfully obtain the planned data, because as soon as the flyby is completed, the spacecraft will have to be directed to our next close approach to Jupiter, which will take place only seven and a half hours later.”
Scientists have long been curious about Europa, which is covered in ice but is believed to have a vast ocean below the surface due to the moon’s warm core. Planetary scientists believe there may be more liquid water in Europe’s global oceans than there is on Earth. Although the ice sheet is believed to be several kilometers thick, the Hubble Space Telescope has collected data showing that geysers can periodically flow through crevices in this ice. Due to the presence of water and heat, these oceans are potential reservoirs for exotic microbial life.
Juno will bring a new tool to study this ice sheet. For example, the spacecraft’s microwave radiometer will observe Europa’s crust, obtaining data on the composition of the ice and its temperature. This is the first time such data has been collected to study the lunar cryosphere.
Visual imagery and scientific data will help inform NASA scientists that they have completed the assembly of the Europa Clipper spacecraft, a huge spacecraft scheduled for launch in 2024. On the Falcon Heavy missile. The mission will be dedicated to the study of the Moon, which will arrive in 2030 and will conduct more than 50 close range flights to collect data. Ultimately, the space agency wants to send a lander but first wants to get the data from the flyby mission to evaluate the best landing site, perhaps near a plume of moisture, if one already exists.
In the next few days the images of Juno’s journey in Europe will begin to return. NASA will do it Post here when they arrived.
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