loading…
The European Space Agency (ESA) is ready to send satellites to explore the moons of Jupiter, called Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer or JUICE. Photo/ESA/NASA
Quoted from the Space page, Thursday (13/4/2023), the Juice satellite is studying whether Jupiter’s moons have the potential to harbor alien life because they have oceans of water hidden under an icy shell. These subsurface waters are an important target for astronomers looking for extraterrestrial life, because they have the potential to harbor life.
The mission will be the first to orbit a moon outside the solar system, as it will spend its time orbiting Ganymede. Jupiter’s four largest moons are known as the Galilean moons, because they were discovered by Galileo Galilei. Of these, the moon Ganymede is the largest, and the only moon in the solar system with a magnetic field.
During its time near Jupiter, the Juice satellite will also observe the gas giant planet itself, helping astronomers understand how the gas giant formed and revealing unprecedented details about its environment. Understanding gas giants like Jupiter is critical to understanding our solar system and exoplanet observations.
The Juice satellite will spend about eight years traveling to Jupiter, and its long journey begins with this launch. The satellite is currently perched aboard the Ariane 5 rocket (the same rocket that launched the James Webb Space Telescope) from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
After launch, the satellite will continue to unfurl its antenna several days to several weeks later. Satellite Juice’s journey to Jupiter was monitored by the ESA’s tracker for the probe, until it arrives at the gas giant’s planet in July 2031.
(wib)