by All space missions require split-second precision, but Europa’s ambitious voyage to Jupiter has a tighter-than-usual schedule.
The Juice mission, which will search for signs of extraterrestrial life on Jupiter’s moons Europa, Ganymede and Calisto, has a tiny one-second window to get into orbit when it launches in April.
The European Space Agency’s orbiter must use the gravitational forces of Earth, Mars and Venus to propel it towards its target, and the planets must be perfectly aligned or the spacecraft could be off course.
By comparison, the Artemis I mission had a leisurely two hours to get off the ground when it launched to the moon last November.
Juice, which stands for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, is scheduled to launch on April 13 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket.
Justin Byrne, head of science and earth research missions at Airbus Defense and Space UK, which built the spacecraft, said: “The rocket isn’t powerful enough to send the mission directly to Jupiter, so we have to use energy from somewhere else we’re stealing.” it from the planets.
“These planets will only line up twice a year, in April and at the end of summer. But when that aligns with Earth’s rotation, we only have a one-second launch window each day for the physics of the entire universe to align, so it’s pretty tricky stuff.”
Jupiter is about 400 million miles away from Earth on average, and it will take the spacecraft eight years to reach its destination.
The system is believed to be one of the best places to look for extraterrestrial life as its icy moons are thought to contain vast icy oceans.
Once there, the orbiter will fly 125 miles over Callisto, observing the oldest moon in the solar system, before flying past Europa twice.
Underneath Europa’s icy crust is believed to be a vast ocean of liquid water, or slushy ice, containing twice as much water as Earth’s oceans combined.
This vast and deep body of water is widely regarded as the most promising place to search for life in the solar system, and instruments aboard Juice will search for biosignatures, such as methane, that could indicate life is thriving beneath the icy surface.
Extremophilic life forms have been found on Earth thriving near subsurface volcanoes and deep-sea vents, raising hopes that they may also exist in the subsurface oceans of Jupiter’s moons.
After Europa, the mission will spend eight months orbiting Ganymede, the first time a spacecraft has orbited a moon other than our own.
Ganymede is the only moon in the solar system known to produce its own magnetic field, so scientists are keen to find out how this is achieved.
Just like Europa and Callisto, it harbors a hidden ocean, so researchers will also look for signs of habitability.
“Ganymede is the one everyone’s really interested in because it has a magnetic field and it must have a molten core, but the other two have subsurface liquid and there may be life on all three,” Mr Byrne added.
“There are definitely signatures that we might be able to see. When the data comes back, things will get really intense, with boom boom boom new results. We are being inundated with new information.”
The magnetic field surrounding Ganymede has proved a challenge for spacecraft engineers, who have had to build a lead-lined center to protect electronics.
Mr Byrne added: “It has a massive magnetic field, 10,000 times stronger than Earth, so it really is the worst place to base a spacecraft. If you wanted to kill it, you would.”
In all, Juice will make 35 flybys of the three moons before finally making a controlled crash into Ganymede. The team also wants to learn more about Jupiter, specifically why its famous red spot is shrinking.
Experts believe the one-second window is achievable but worry weather could prevent launch. Too much wind or storms could cause delays and would mean waiting for the next planetary alignment.
If the first window is missed, there are several more opportunities in April, but after that the team would have to wait until August.
