Article provided by: Gaemi Newspaper / Registered reporter: Kim Tae-bong [기자에게 문의하기] 0 / 0
around Jupiter with a single launch. 3exploring the dog satellite ‘Iltasampi(Three hands)’ The project has taken its first big step.past 4month 14The Jupiter Moon Exploration Spacecraft, which was successfully launched from the space center in French Guiana, is the main character of the project..
in one spaceship 3The Jupiter Satellite Exploration Project, which investigates four moons, is launched by the European Space Agency.(ESA)is being promoted by. Europa, a moon that often appears as a background in science fiction movies(Europa)including Ganymede(Ganymede)and Callisto(Callisto)The goal of the project is to explore.
Figure 1. Spacecraft Juice launched to explore Jupiter’s three moons (Source: ESA)
Jupiter’s 3The goal of the project is to explore satellites
Jupiter’s 3The name of the project to explore four satellites is ‘juice(JUICE)’all.The name juice is ‘Exploration of Jupiter’s icy moons(Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer)It was created by combining the spellings of phrases with the meaning of.
Juice, the spacecraft named after the project, reaches Jupiter. 8it will take years. Analyzing the atmospheric and geological composition of moons orbiting Jupiter, We plan to conduct exploration work to determine whether water exists..especially ESAis placing high hopes on exploration work to search for traces of extraterrestrial life through the presence of water that may exist beneath a thick layer of ice..
The target of Juice’s exploration 3Although all of the moons are covered with ice,,Among them, Europa is a special satellite.. beneath a thick layer of ice km It is estimated that there is deep water, Experts say that life is more likely to exist than any other celestial body..
The problem is that the existence of this water has not been confirmed.. No matter how high-performance a telescope is, it is difficult to observe under the ice., In order to determine whether water exists on an unknown planet, a different method was needed..
Figure 2. A water column gushing out was observed on Europa (Source: NASA)
However, this problem was surprisingly easily solved through past observations by the Hubble Space Telescope..This is because water columns rising through Europa’s icy surface were observed through a telescope.. This phenomenon could not have occurred if there was no water under the ice layer..
Through observation, the phenomenon of rising water columns was discovered., Scientists are wondering whether the erupting water column is really water vapor made by water or some unknown liquefied substance.. Therefore, scientists expect that the juice launched this time will solve such questions..
A unique flight that uses only solar energy
What process does the juice launched into space undergo in the future? 3Will it reach all four satellites??
After the launched Juice landed in Earth’s orbit, various exploration equipment was checked to see if it was working properly in space..Main equipment includes solar panels and radar., It is also equipped with a high-performance camera and near-infrared spectrometer..
Figure 3. Juice runs on energy using mounted solar panels (Source: JAXA)
Among them, solar panels and radar attracted attention because they were equipment developed specifically for this exploration..Juice’s solar panels are spread out in a cross shape.85㎟Thanks to its large solar panel, it was developed to be the first solar exploration spacecraft to be able to perform its mission using only solar energy without relying on nuclear power..
RIME (Radar for Icy Moon Exploration)The radar, named , was jointly developed by researchers in Switzerland and Germany..3It was built to study the geological characteristics of the moon and the water surface beneath the ice layer that may exist..
After completing the equipment inspection in Earth orbit, Juice has now set off on a long journey to Jupiter.. As we are moving forward using only solar energy without borrowing the power of nuclear power,, Juice goes on numerous flybys to save energy.(fly-by) undergoes a flight.
Flyby flight is a method in which a spacecraft orbits a planet and uses gravity and centrifugal force to increase flight speed..Although it is possible to accelerate speed only in natural ways without using fuel,, The downside is that the flight time is longer..
Juice in the future 2029moon and earth by year, The speed is increased through a flyby while circling Venus.. And by utilizing the energy accumulated in this process, 2031It will arrive around the moons of Jupiter in.
The flyby flight continues even after arriving near the satellite.. Juice is 2034up to approx. 3Europa and Callisto for years, And it orbits the Ganymede satellite. 35Conference satellite flyby flights will be promoted..
3After observing the moons Europa and Callisto for years, Juice, finally 2034As the year approaches, a mission to explore the Ganymede moon is being carried out.. Even though Ganymede is a satellite,, It is larger than Pluto or Mercury, making it the largest satellite in the solar system.. It is also known to be the only satellite among the solar system’s satellites to have a magnetic field similar to that of Earth..
The reason why the exploration of the Ganymede satellite is Juice’s last mission is because it is scheduled to gradually lower its altitude while orbiting and crash into the surface of Ganymede at the last moment.. Scientists expect to be able to obtain observation data on the mysterious surfaces of Jupiter’s moons during the collision process..
writing: Kim Jun-rae, science columnist/illustration: Writer Eugene Seong
