NASA's Juno spacecraft will approach the surface of Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede, at a distance of 645 miles (1,038 kilometers) on June 7. At 1:35 p.m. EDT (10:35 a.m. PDT), the solar-powered Juno spacecraft will swing by Ganymede. It will be the closest approach since NASA's Galileo spacecraft conducted its last close pass on May 20, 2000.
The flyby will provide fascinating new information about the moon's composition, ionosphere, magnetosphere, and ice shell. In addition, NASA said Juno's studies of the radiation environment around the moon would aid future missions to the Jovian system, which includes Jupiter, its rings, and moons.
"Juno carries a suite of sensitive instruments capable of seeing Ganymede in ways never before possible," said Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, in a statement released by NASA.
"By flying so close, we will bring the exploration of Ganymede into the 21st century, both complementing future missions with our unique sensors and helping prepare for the next generation of missions to the Jovian system -- NASA's Europa Clipper and ESA's (European Space Agency's) JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) mission."
What is Ganymede?
The moon is called after an old Greek god's cupbearer. Ganymede is not only our solar system's largest natural satellite, but it is also the only moon with a magnetic field. Auroras glow around the moon's north and south poles as a result of this.
Ganymede has an iron core that is surrounded by a rock layer and topped with a thick ice coating. It's possible that there's a deep ocean, and in 1996, scientists used the Hubble Space Telescope to find evidence of a thin oxygen atmosphere on the moon. There isn't enough oxygen in this atmosphere to sustain life.
The lunar surface is dotted with bright areas. These ridges resemble scars, implying significant alteration throughout Ganymede's history.
"Ganymede's ice shell has some light and dark regions, suggesting that some areas may be pure ice while other areas contain dirty ice," Bolton said per CNN.
How Will Juno Quickly Capture Ganymede?
The ESA's JUICE mission, which will arrive in 2032 and be the first spacecraft to orbit a moon other than Earth's, will also explore Ganymede's ice shell.
Juno will use three cameras during the flyby on Monday, including its navigation camera, to record as much as possible, including the highly intense radiation near Ganymede.
Because the flyby will be short, there won't be much time to take pictures. However, NASA may compare the data gathered during this flyby to that collected by the Voyager and Galileo missions.
Matt Johnson, Juno mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, explained per SpaceCoastDaily that things move quickly in the world of flybys. Every second count, Johnson said. Hence, they have two back-to-back flybys coming up next week.
They'll sprint through Ganymede at nearly 12 miles per second (19 kilometers per second) on Monday. Then, they're doing the 33rd science flyby of Jupiter in less than 24 hours, swooping low over the cloud tops at around 36 miles per second (58 kilometers per second). It's going to be a roller coaster ride, Johnson said.
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