Historic flight to Jupiter will take up to 8 years: Why will it take so long for the JUICE mission to fly?

Already on Thursday, April 13, the research apparatus of the European Space Agency will go to the gas giant, but will arrive at Jupiter only in July 2031.

The first European spacecraft to explore Jupiter and its three largest moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa, will launch April 13 from Kourou in French Guiana (South America). JUICE, an acronym for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, will send an Ariane 5 launch vehicle into space. life. The device also explores Jupiter itself. But it takes 8 years to fly to this planet, and scientists have explained why this journey will take so long, writes Space.

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It is not always necessary to fly very long to Jupiter.

Jupiter is about 715 million km from Earth, but some other spacecraft took a shorter time to reach this planet. It turns out that the flight time is affected by such a factor, whether the device passed by Jupiter or went into orbit around the planet to stay there for a long time.

For example, the first spacecraft to fly to Jupiter was Pioneer 10, launched in 1972. It flew from Earth to the gas giant in just 640 days. And the device “Pioneer-11” got there even faster – in 606 days. But they passed by and did not enter Jupiter’s orbit.

Spacecraft that need to enter orbit rather than fly past Jupiter must move more slowly at the end of their journey so that the planet’s gravity can catch them and enter their orbit, scientists say.

At the same time, the Galileo spacecraft, launched to Jupiter in 1989, flew to the planet in 6 years. The Juno apparatus, which was launched in 2011, reached the gas giant in 5 years. But JUICE will need to fly for 8 years to reach Jupiter in 2031.

Why is the flight time to Jupiter different?

According to scientists, different flight times to this planet depend on several factors.

  • First, the distance between Earth and Jupiter varies greatly over time.
  • Second, not all spacecraft that should orbit Jupiter fly in a straight line through space. They fly around other planets to gain momentum during gravitational maneuvers and, accordingly, increase their flight speed.

gravitational maneuvers

For example, the same Galileo apparatus has so far reached Jupiter, traveled a total of about 4 billion km in space, flew around the Earth, Venus and even one of the asteroids. The JUICE device will need to do something similar. So it will also fly around Earth and Venus to get the acceleration it needs.

According to scientists from ESA, gravitational maneuvers need to be implemented to save fuel. The spacecraft can obtain additional energy by using the gravity of other planets or their moons, thus not consuming as much fuel.

The scientists explain that the JUICE spacecraft initially lacked the energy to fly in a more direct orbit to Jupiter. Therefore, gravitational maneuvers are needed. However, this increases the flight range and, accordingly, the time spent in space.

ESA scientists say JUICE will perform four gravitational maneuvers around Earth and Venus on its way to Jupiter. It was originally planned to fly around Mars, but the idea was later abandoned.

Purpose of JUICE flight

The last gravitational maneuver before reaching Jupiter will be in 2029. After orbiting Jupiter in July 2031, the spacecraft will fly around its three moons, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto, using the planet’s gravity. JUICE will orbit Jupiter until 2035, studying the planet itself and its moons. Then, for the first time in history, the device will orbit another planet’s moon, which will be Ganymede.

Scientists hope this spacecraft will provide crucial scientific data not only about Jupiter but also about its largest moons. In particular, researchers have high hopes that the existence of underground oceans of liquid water will be proven on Jupiter’s icy moons. But an even greater feat would be that it would be possible for the device to find signs of the presence of extraterrestrial life on Jupiter’s moons.

More about this and other missions to Jupiter’s moons Focus already written before.

Moreover Focus He wrote that strange life forms may be hiding in the so-called computational regions of the stars, not in the habitable regions. Scientists have presented a new study in which they explain their theory in detail.

Source: Focus

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