Missions to Jupiter

There have been several missions to Jupiter and there are more planned for the future. Here is a breakdown of past, current, and future missions with a brief description of each.

Pioneer 10

Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to explore Jupiter. The spacecraft survived the intense Jovian radiation then moved into a trajectory taking it out of the Solar System. As it passed through the Jupiter system, it transmitted hundreds of photos of the planet and its moons, along with measurements of the Jovian atmosphere.

Pioneer 11

Pioneer 11 was the second spacecraft to flyby Jupiter. It flew three times closer to Jupiter than Pioneer 10. Due to its higher speed, it was exposed to less radiation. It provided the first look of the planet’s polar regions and found its vast magnetosphere changes as it is buffeted by the solar wind.

Voyager 2

Voyager 2 was designed to use a rare planetary alignment to explore the outer solar system. Voyager 2 targeted Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. During the Jupiter leg of its journey, it explored the magnetosphere and moons, offering greater detail than the Pioneer spacecraft. The spacecraft used Jupiter for a gravity-assist to Saturn. Time-lapse movies made from its images of Jupiter showed how the planet had changed since Voyager 1′s visit. Images of Io revealed changes in the moon’s surface and continued volcanic eruptions. Images of Europa revealed a collection of cracks in a thick, smooth icy crust. It also discovered a 14th moon and a third planetary ring.

Voyager 1

1 usually comes before 2, but because of the trajectories used, Voyager 1 arrived after Voyager 2.
Voyager 1 failed in its experiments using its photopolarimeter, which failed to operate. The spacecraft found Jupiter’s atmosphere more active than any other craft had, causing scientists to rethink atmospheric models. The spacecraft imaged the moons Amalthea, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, showing details of their terrain for the first time and two new moons: Thebe and Metis.

Galileo

The Galileo spacecraft was the first orbiter to visit Jupiter. It carried 10 science instruments and a atmospheric probe. The spacecraft claimed quite a few firsts during its 14-year mission to Jupiter including: an intense radiation belt above Jupiter’s cloud tops, helium in about the same concentration as the Sun, extensive and rapid resurfacing of the moon Io(remember the volcanoes mentioned earlier), and evidence for liquid water oceans under Europa’s icy surface. Additionally,the orbiter was the first to sample the gas giant’s atmosphere for temperature, pressure, chemical composition, cloud characteristics, sunlight and energy internal to the planet, and lightning.

Ulysses

There really isn’t much to say about Ulysses. It’s primary target was the Sun, but needed a boost from Jupiter’s gravity to be able to overcome the Sun’s gravity well. A good side area to research might me Hohmann transfer orbits to fully understand the slingshot effect used.

Cassini

Cassini used it’s flyby of Jupiter to gain the momentum needed to reach Saturn. NASA took advantage of the flyby to simultaneously study the planet from two different spacecraft(Cassini and Galileo). The joint observations revealed Jupiter’s magnetosphere as a vast, invisible whirling bubble of charged particles. The data helped scientists understand Earth’s own magnetosphere in more detail. The spacecraft revealed Jupiter’s radiation belts are much harsher than expected. This will help scientists protect future mission to the planet even better.

New Horizons

New Horizons is another spacecraft that used Jupiter for a gravity assist. The gravity assist trimmed three years off the spacecraft’s journey to Pluto and beyond. During its Jupiter flyby, New Horizons observed lightning near the poles, the creation of fresh ammonia clouds, and boulder-size clumps speeding through Jupiter’s faint rings. The spacecraft also collected data on volcanic eruptions on Jupiter’s moon Io, and the path of charged particles moving back and forth across the planet’s magnetic tail. It also collected data supporting the theory that Europa has an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy crust.

Juno

The Juno spacecraft is currently on its way to Jupiter. NASA scientists hope to study how Jupiter formed. It will map the gravity field, magnetic field. and atmospheric structure of the planet from a polar orbit.

NASA and other space agencies around the world have several other future missions to Jupiter in the concept phase at this time. The ultimate goal is to descend beneath the cloud tops once a way has been found for a spacecraft to survive the crushing atmosphere of our largest solar system neighbor.

We have written many articles about missions to Jupiter for Universe Today. Here’s an article about Pioneer 11, and here’s an article about Voyager 2.

If you’d like more information on Jupiter, check out Hubblesite’s News Releases about Jupiter, and here’s a link to NASA’s Solar System Exploration Guide to Jupiter.

We’ve also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast just about Jupiter. Listen here, Episode 56: Jupiter.

Source: NASA