Along with energy and nutrients, water is considered one of the three key elements necessary for life to emerge. Scientists estimate that there are as many as 23 planets and moons in the solar system, including Earth, which likely contain water. It has been confirmed that about 20 ppm of water vapor remains on Venus, which is much hotter than Earth, as well as on the Moon and Mars. Another exploration program to find traces of life in the outer solar system is on the rise.
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced on the 13th at 8:15 am (local time) that Arianespace’s Ariane 5 launch vehicle will be launched from the Kourou space center in French Guiana, South America, with a Jupiter ice satellite probe ( JUICE ˙ ) loading.
Juice will circle the sun in an elliptical orbit for the next eight years and fly about 600 million km to Jupiter with the help of gravity. From 2031, it will carry out various observation missions by orbiting Jupiter’s moon Europa twice and close to Callisto 12 times. Juice will then fly to Ganymede, another unknown moon of Jupiter, to carry out the rest of the mission.
Jupiter’s three moons are the largest of the 92 moons orbiting Jupiter. Europa, which is the first to arrive, has long been evaluated as having suitable conditions to live in. Europa is a relatively large moon with a diameter of 3122 km, and it is estimated that there is a liquid ocean beneath its icy surface. Callisto, which is larger than this, is much larger than the moon with a diameter of 4820 km, and scientists believe it may have a sea beneath the ice like Europa.
Comparatively, Ganymede has received less attention than its two moons. Ganymede is a moon with a diameter of 5200 km and is classified as the largest moon in the solar system, larger than Mercury or the dwarf planet Pluto. According to NASA, it is estimated that Ganymede has more water underground in the form of salt water than all the water on Earth’s surface. Scientists also see a high possibility that the sea on Ganymede exists in layers, alternating with ice, like a sandwich. It is also worth noting that Ganymede is the only satellite in the solar system that generates its own internal magnetic field.
“Ganymede is a larger moon than Europa and possibly has a lot of water and a magnetic field inside, so there are many challenges to solve,” said ESA researcher Oliver Witase. I can see it,” he said.
When launched, the juice probe measures 4.09m wide, 2.86m long, and 4.35m high, slightly larger than a small spot. However, when it reaches Jupiter’s orbit and develops the two large cross-shaped solar panels and antennas on both sides, it grows to the size of a flat with a dedicated area of 33 pyeong (85㎡). It is the largest probe ever sent by mankind to another planet.
The rover carries 10 scientific instruments to investigate Jupiter’s turbulent currents and vast magnetosphere, as well as study its three moons, which are tolerably planet-sized. It has a magnetometer that measures 10 m long to measure interactions with Jupiter’s own magnetosphere, a radar antenna that measures only 16 m long, and antennas that measure electric and magnetic fields. Cameras on the rover will perform a variety of observation missions to capture satellite features as well as identify ice and minerals on the satellite’s surface.
Sudd is on a mission to determine the location and depth of specific waters on these satellites, as well as the geological structure where water resides, before subsequent missions to find signs of life. ESA researchers believe that, in the case of Ganymede, it will be possible to determine the structure of the ocean through its internally generated magnetic field.
The probe is also responsible for mapping the moons of the three moons and observing the composition of the ice surface to determine the geological activity of these moons. We intend to check the depth of the ocean below the earth’s crust and how far the water is distributed with the radar carried on the probe.
The research team expects to obtain new information necessary to estimate the possibility of life around exoplanets in the future by analyzing the effect of Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field on the satellite while the Sudd probe is orbiting it.
Scientists have discovered one after another favorable conditions for life on some of the moons in the solar system. NASA scientists have discovered geysers erupting miles high through cracks in the icy surface on some moons, including Saturn’s moon Enceladus. In 2014 and 2016, the Hubble Space Telescope detected this water eruption on Jupiter’s moon Europa. Scientists see this phenomenon as evidence that increases the possibility of discovering life as there is a source of heat inside.
However, many scholars believe that it is not easy to be sure that the Juice probe will be able to create an environment for life on Jupiter after its mission is over.
Space, media specializing in space, said, “Juice has limitations in directly detecting traces of life on the surface of a satellite.” he said.
Adam Masters, a researcher at Imperial College London, UK, who participated in the Juice probe, said, “We don’t expect life to live on the surface of Jupiter’s moons. .
