Three 'exciting' alien moons to get first look up close in nearly 20 years

[FfFfFfFF 58,378]

After 5 years orbiting Jupiter, NASA’s Juno spacecraft is spiraling into the heart of the Jovian system.

The four-year, 42-orbit journey will plunge the craft into a treacherous, brutal environment—while offering new, dramatic views of three alien worlds. But Juno, sheathed in titanium armor that protects it from harsh radiation, is ready for its mission. And its team back on Earth is eager to follow it from afar during this daring voyage.

“I’m really excited, just thrilled that we were able to come up with this plan,” says Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute. ”It was an out-of-the-box idea, to be able to literally make a transition from a Jupiter orbiter that studied primarily only Jupiter, to something that is going to be a full-system explorer.”

  
 

This June, the solar-powered spacecraft will brush by Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system. Next, in 2022, it will visit Europa—an ice-encrusted ocean world that could harbor life. And finally, as Juno sweeps daringly close to Jupiter, it will encounter Io, a violently volcanic moon dusted with sulfuric frost. Seeing those moons up close for the first time in nearly two decades—since the Galileo spacecraft’s mission ended in 2003—will thrill scientists who study the elusive icy worlds of the outer solar system.

In addition to studying those three alien moons, Juno will also scrutinize Jupiter’s rings, making several passes through the bangles themselves. Dark and diffuse, the rings are not nearly as spectacular as Saturn’s, and scientists know very little about them.

Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2021/01/nasa-juno-spacecraft-to-tour-jupiter-amazing-moons/

[weed 79,059]

it's crazy they both have an ocean in the shape of the US... what a coincidence

[vyniildisk 12,689]

i wonder what kind of criatures are swimming in those oceans 

[LeJudas 6,490]

29 minutes ago, weed said:

it's crazy they both have an ocean in the shape of the US... what a coincidence

Does that mean they invented USA and we are all sheep like the theorists told us? 

I'm scared what do we do now

[Purrrrrr 18,155]

can they launch the james something telescope aready because im ready 

[Stupid Oreo 14,669]

52 minutes ago, Dulo Peep said:

i wonder what kind of criatures are swimming in those oceans 

Magas

[Shadow 6,697]

It will be wondrous and enlightening to get better images and data from the moons of the Jupiter system.