March 29, 2024

Juice mission

  • Recently, the European Space Agency is set to launch the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission to explore Jupiter and its icy moons, namely Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa.
  • To be launched from French Guiana on an Ariane 5 launcher.
  • The mission is set to reach Jupiter in 2031.

Objecitve

  • To create detailed maps of the moons’ surfaces and look beneath them to probe the potential habitable environments by analyzing the water bodies underneath.
  • To create a comprehensive picture of Jupiter by trying to understand its origin, history, and evolution.
  • The focus will be on Ganymede (the largest moon in the Solar System, which generates its magnetic field).
  • The three moons, Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa, are believed to hold immense amounts of water, potentially making them habitable.

About Jupiter

  • Fifth planet from the Sun, Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system.
  • Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are called Jovian or Gas Giant Planets.
  • Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is a giant storm bigger than Earth that has raged for hundreds of years.
  • Jupiter rotates once about every 10 hours (a Jovian day), but takes about 12 Earth years to complete one orbit of the Sun.
  • Jupiter has more than 75 moons.
  • The planet Jupiter’s four largest moons are called the Galilean satellites after Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, who first observed them in 1610.
    • These are named Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
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