Tag: Jupiter
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Europa Clipper’s main body complete, teams continue work toward 2024 launch
In early June, the main body of NASA’s upcoming Europa Clipper spacecraft completed construction and was shipped to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California soon after. The arrival of Europa Clipper’s main body marks a major milestone in the construction of the spacecraft and shows that the spacecraft and its teams are on…
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Europa Clipper’s main body complete, teams continue work toward 2024 launch
In early June, the main body of NASA’s upcoming Europa Clipper spacecraft completed construction and was shipped to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California soon after. The arrival of Europa Clipper’s main body marks a major milestone in the construction of the spacecraft and shows that the spacecraft and its teams are on…
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New science from Juno provides insight into atmospheric processes on Jupiter
In a series of newly released papers from a science team on NASA’s Juno mission, new data is helping researchers discover how Jupiter’s atmosphere functions underneath the planet’s thick upper cloud layer. The papers were published in the journals of Geophysical Research: Planets as well as Geophysical Research Letters and shine light on the gas…
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Lucy in final preparations for launch, Principal Investigator discusses mission’s trajectory
After being shipped to Florida in early August, NASA’s most daring asteroid exploration mission yet — Lucy — is now in final launch preparations as the opening of its interplanetary transfer window to Jupiter nears. With the launch date just two weeks away, the mission’s Principal Investigator, Dr. Hal Levison, spoke with NASASpaceflight about the…
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Lucy’s Principal Investigator discusses upcoming mission to Jupiter’s Trojans
Of the varying types of celestial objects humans have sent spacecraft to investigate, there remains a select group of asteroids, located in two separate locations in our solar system, that we have yet to visit — the Trojan asteroids. Trojan asteroids are located at Jupiter’s L4 and L5 Lagrange points, 60 degrees ahead of and…
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Lucy spacecraft passes pre-shipment review, on track for October launch
NASA and Lockheed Martin are another step closer to the launch of their Lucy Trojan Explorer mission, with the craft completing its pre-shipment review ahead of transportation to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in August. Lucy will be the first mission of its kind, set to explore several asteroids in Jupiter’s L4…
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Five years on, Juno science reveals answers to zodiacal lights, Jovian auroras
Juno, NASA’s flagship mission to Jupiter, marks five years at the solar system’s largest planet today, having been in space for nearly 10 years since its launch. Juno quickly became one of NASA’s most scientifically important missions upon its arrival, with its Ultraviolet Spectrograph and Advanced Stellar Compass instruments used to reveal many unique scientific…
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Europa volcanism & interior heating modeled in detail, offers research targets for upcoming missions
Europa, an icy Jovian moon that likely possesses an ocean beneath its icy crust, may have an interior that is hot enough to produce volcanic activity on its seafloor. New research provides evidence that this seafloor volcanism likely occurred in the moon’s past and maybe ongoing at present as well. The team of researchers, led…
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NASA decides to launch Europa Clipper on commercial rocket in 2024
Artist’s concept of the Europa Clipper spacecraft, with Europa and Jupiter in the background. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA has decided to launch the multibillion-dollar Europa Clipper mission on a commercial heavy-lift rocket in October 2024, and not on the government-owned Space Launch System, officials said Wednesday. The decision ends a prolonged dilemma for NASA, which until…
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Juno illuminates 25 year old Jovian mystery, mission extended to 2025
More than four and a half years after arriving in orbit of Jupiter, NASA’s Juno mission continues to excel at its primary goal of answering outstanding questions about the Jovian system, something highlighted in a recent science release detailing a much drier region of the planet’s upper atmosphere than previously predicted. Meanwhile, with the spacecraft…