NASA’s Juno probe has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID,WASHINGTON — Spaceship Juno The American Space Agency (NASA) will now take a closer look at Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede in the near future. The plane has orbited Jupiter since 2016.
Ganyemede will be the closest moon in the solar system that NASA has reached in more than 20 years. The information that Juno collects can later provide further insight into the composition of the moon and its ice shells, as well as provide data for future missions to Jupiter.
“Juno brought a set of sensitive instruments capable of seeing Ganymede in a way that has never been done before,” said Jupiter study lead author Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio The Verge, Monday (7/6).
Bolton says with Juno flying so close, 21st century exploration of Ganyemede is possible. This can complement future missions helping to prepare for next generation missions to the Jovian system.
Such missions include NASA’s Europa Clipper and the European Space Agency’s (ESA) European Space Agency’s (ESA) JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) mission. JUICE is scheduled to launch next year and arrive at Jupiter in 2029.
Ganymede is larger than Mercury and is the only moon in the solar system with its own magnetosphere. NASA describes this as a bubble-shaped region of charged particles that surrounds it.
JunoCam, which has taken many of Jupiter’s most striking photos during its mission will only be able to take about five images during cross -flight. Because, Ganymede will appear and disappear from everyone’s view in a 25 -minute window. Three hours before Juno reaches its nearest point near Ganymede, its scientific instruments will begin collecting data.
“Literally every second counts. We’re going over Ganymede at nearly 12 miles per second (19 kilometers per second),” said Matt Johnson, Juno mission manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
In less than 24 hours, Juno will make its 33rd science trajectory on Jupiter. Juno is expected to be at its closest point to Ganymede at around 13:35 on Monday (7/6) today.
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