The JUICE mission to explore Jupiter’s ocean moons is about to launch

The European Area Company (ESA) is sending an orbiter to discover Jupiter’s unusual moons. The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is scheduled to launch on 13 April from Kourou, French Guiana, and start its eight-year journey to Jupiter.

The orbiter is designed to discover Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, three of Jupiter’s largest moons. It is going to make two shut passes by Europa and 12 by Callisto throughout the first part of its mission, from 2031 to 2034, after which orbit Ganymede for the rest of its mission.

Whereas Ganymede could look like an unconventional alternative – Jupiter’s smaller moon Europa is often considered extra more likely to have the precise situations for all times – it’s the largest moon within the photo voltaic system, making it comparatively straightforward to succeed in and orbit. Like Europa and Callisto, it’s thought to have a liquid ocean beneath its icy shell.

“Ganymede in precept is much less attention-grabbing than Europa, however as a result of it’s an even bigger moon, additionally doubtlessly with water inside, and with a magnetic subject, Ganymede has loads of mysteries to unravel,” says ESA’s Olivier Witasse, the mission’s venture scientist. “One of many large questions is whether or not we may have round Jupiter a spot the place there might be liveable situations, and Ganymede is a type of locations.”

The presumably liveable setting lies in Ganymede’s liquid ocean, which is regarded as the most important within the photo voltaic system. However we all know little or no about it, so it’s unclear whether or not it may have the precise situations for all times. JUICE will measure the water’s location, composition and depth within the hopes of discovering sufficient promise to warrant a future mission below the ice to search for precise indicators of life. “If you wish to search contained in the ocean, it is advisable to know the place the ocean is,” says Witasse.

JUICE’s measurements of the ocean can be aided by Ganymede’s internally generated magnetic subject, the one one on any moon. Finding out the magnetic subject also needs to assist unravel Ganymede’s inner construction.

The mission may also purpose to map all three moons and examine the composition of their icy crusts, trying to find any indicators of geological exercise. It is going to use radar to penetrate the crusts and measure the depths of the moons’ seas and the way far underground they lie for the primary time.

As a result of the purpose of the mission is partly to grasp the Jupiter system as a complete and the potential for all times round comparable exoplanets, JUICE may also check out the opposite moons from afar and make detailed observations of Jupiter itself. These observations will deal with the planet’s highly effective magnetic subject and the way it impacts the moons.

These measurements are anticipated to unravel a bunch of mysteries about Jupiter and its moons – if all goes properly on the launch, the following step is a protracted wait. “The subsequent most enjoyable part can be in 2031 after we arrive at Jupiter and we begin the deliberate mission,” says Witasse. “We begin to get a bit bit excited, however that’s nonetheless eight years from now.”