Launching today: ESA's Juice spacecraft to probe Jupiter's moons for life signs
On December 4, 1973, NASA's Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to observe Jupiter up close, zipping by at a distance of 82,000 miles above its swirling clouds. Its twin probe, Pioneer 11, followed a year later, and got three times closer to the gas giant. Now the European Space Agency is about to try for an even closer look at the biggest planet in our locale.
Electromagnetic energy emitted by the moving particles were concentrated into regions around the planet to form intense radiation belts. Three more spacecraft, Voyager 1, 2, and Ulysses, also flew by Jupiter and spotted its faint ring system, and never-before-seen moons. Astronomers began to realize Jupiter's satellites were a lot more complex when they detected hints of volcanic activity and signs of water on the natural satellites.
Two other spacecraft, including Cassini and New Horizons, have flown by Jupiter since. Although NASA's Juno probe is still orbiting Jupiter, neither will study the Jovian moons in as much detail as ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer scheduled for"Juice's overarching theme is the emergence of habitable worlds around gas giants," the Euro space agencyScientists are examining Jupiter and its moons as a mini solar system in its own right.
Ganymede has an internal liquid iron core surrounded by an outer shell of rock. In between its rock mantle and icy surface lies what could well be a hidden ocean that scientists believe could carry more liquid than all of the Earth's oceans combined.
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