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A NASA spacecraft is preparing for the first of a series of close encounters with the most volcanic sites in the solar system. The Juno spacecraft will fly by Jupiter’s moon Io on Thursday, December 15.
The operation can be one of the following: Juno’s nine Io flybys over the next year and a half. Two of his are from just 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) from the surface of the Moon.
Juno captured a brilliant infrared view of Io 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometers) away on July 5. The brightest spots in that image correspond to the hottest temperatures on Io, home to hundreds of volcanoes. Some of them can send lava fountains up to dozens of miles high.
Scientists will use Juno’s observations of Io to learn more about its network of volcanoes and how its eruptions interact with Jupiter. The moon is constantly being pulled by Jupiter’s enormous gravitational pull.
“The team is very excited that Juno’s expanded mission will include the study of Jupiter’s moons. says so.
“While the Juno sensor is designed to study Jupiter, we are excited that it will do a double duty of observing Jupiter’s moons.”
The spacecraft recently captured new images of Jupiter’s northernmost cyclone on September 29. Jupiter’s atmosphere is dominated by hundreds of cyclones, many clustered at the planet’s poles.
The Juno spacecraft has orbited Jupiter since 2016 to learn more about the giant planet, and will flyby Jupiter’s moons during an extended mission that began last year and is expected to last until the end of 2025. focus on.
Juno will fly near Jupiter’s moon Ganymede in 2021, followed by Europa earlier this year. The probe used its instruments to probe beneath the icy crusts of both moons and collect data about the interior of Europa, where it is believed to contain a salty ocean.
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The ice shell that makes up Europa’s surface is estimated to be 10 to 15 miles (16 to 24 kilometers) thick, and the likely ocean above it is 40 to 100 miles (64 to 161 kilometers) deep. increase.
The data and images captured by Juno could help inform two separate missions to Jupiter’s moon over the next two years. NASA’s Europa Clipper mission.
The first launch, scheduled for April 2023, will take three years to study Jupiter and its three icy moons (Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa) in detail. All three moons are thought to have oceans beneath their icy crust, and scientists want to investigate whether Ganymede’s oceans are potentially habitable.
Europa Clipper will launch in 2024 and, after arriving in 2030, will perform a dedicated series of flybys to orbit the Moon 50 times. It will help scientists determine whether an inland sea really exists there and whether the moon can support life.
