Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Explaining JUICE Mission to Jupiter and its moons
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, over 300 times the size of Earth. The gassy and stormy planet orbits around 778 million kilometers or 5.2 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun (Earth is one AU from the Sun), taking about 12 Earth years for one orbit. First discovered by an Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1610, there are over 80 moons that orbit Jupiter. On April 14, The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) launched an Arian 5 rocket to send a spacecraft to explore Jupiter and three of its largest and most intriguing moons, Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa, each of which is between 25% and 40% the size of Earth. Though there is no water on Jupiter, these three moons are believed to have water under the ice surface, which could possibly support some lifeform. The spacecraft will enter Jupiter’s orbit by 2031 and make a number of flybys of the planet and the moons in the following years and study the habitability of those three icy moons. What would we do if we found a sign or chance of any organism or even possibilities of sustaining lifeform there?
Enjoy reading the article and learning about the JUICE mission.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/13/explaining-juice-mission-to-jupiter-and-its-moons
Explaining JUICE Mission to Jupiter and its moons
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, over 300 times the size of Earth. The gassy and stormy planet orbits around 778 million kilometers or 5.2 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun (Earth is one AU from the Sun), taking about 12 Earth years for one orbit. First discovered by an Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1610, there are over 80 moons that orbit Jupiter. On April 14, The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) launched an Arian 5 rocket to send a spacecraft to explore Jupiter and three of its largest and most intriguing moons, Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa, each of which is between 25% and 40% the size of Earth. Though there is no water on Jupiter, these three moons are believed to have water under the ice surface, which could possibly support some lifeform. The spacecraft will enter Jupiter’s orbit by 2031 and make a number of flybys of the planet and the moons in the following years and study the habitability of those three icy moons. What would we do if we found a sign or chance of any organism or even possibilities of sustaining lifeform there?
Enjoy reading the article and learning about the JUICE mission.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/13/explaining-juice-mission-to-jupiter-and-its-moons
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