The secrets of Jupiter: Europe’s Juice mission to find if life ever existed on distant world – India Today

The search for life beyond Earth has been the ultimate goal of deep space exploration and while our gaze remains fixed on Mars, another world is teeming with possibilities. A world that has Moon with its own oceans, bodies with their own magnetic field, and a size that bewilders our imagination.

Jupiter, the fifth planet in our solar system, has its own system that is characterised by its Moon, unique environment, and surface features that present a riot of colours in images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. When the Juice mission arrives in this system, it will uncover the secrets that could make Jupiter a potential candidate for long-term exploration and even a target for future interplanetary missions.

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission, being developed by the European Space Agency, will launch in April 2023 on an Ariane-5 rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. The destination will be the humongous Jupiter system that will be uncovered layer by layer in a series of 35 Jovian moon flybys.

This 'family portrait' shows a composite of images of Jupiter, including it's Great Red Spot, and its four largest moons. From top to bottom, the moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. (Photo: ESA)

When the Juice mission arrives in the Jovian system in the early 2030s, it will be prime to look at the planets and the Moon in the system that has long been a source of curiosity for astronomers the world over. The spacecraft, which is equipped with 85 square meter solar wings, will make detailed observations of the giant gas planet and its three large ocean-bearing moons Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa.

The spacecraft will use remote sensing, geophysical, and in situ instruments to characterise these moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats while also exploring Jupiters complex environment in-depth, and studying the wider Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants across the Universe.

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The Galilean Moons, four large moons of Jupiter Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto -- have long been speculated to have conditions that could one day support life. The Juice mission will provide measurements to determine the positions of the Galilean moons with unprecedented accuracy. The European Space Agency has said that the mission will give insight into energy exchanges between the giant planet and its natural satellites, and between the satellites themselves, providing information on the past evolution of the orbits and even the origin and formation of Jupiter and the moons themselves.

While Jupiter remains a big part of the exploration, Juice will also look to deep dive into Ganymede, the largest moon in the Solar System larger than Pluto and Mercury. It will find answers to why it is the only Moon to have an intrinsic magnetic field.

The biggest mission goal will, however, remain to find if life ever appeared in the Jovian system? Do any of the Galilean moons have the building blocks needed for life?

"By studying the Galilean moons hidden oceans, magnetism, heating processes, tidal effects, orbits, surface activity, cores and compositions, atmospheres, and space environments, Juice will investigate whether the conditions necessary for life could ever have emerged on Ganymede, Europa or Callisto," ESA has said.

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The secrets of Jupiter: Europe's Juice mission to find if life ever existed on distant world - India Today