Questions tagged [jupiter]
Questions about the exploration of the planet Jupiter.
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How much lead (kg) would you need to survive for an extended period of time in Jupiter’s radiation belts?
Imagine you have a 1 by 1 by 2 meter chamber that a human needs to survive in for one year, while orbiting in Jupiter’s radiation belts. How much lead, in weight, would have to surround the chamber to ...
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Why use plutonium when sunlight is everywhere? Any proposals to use concentrated solar power instead of Pu238 as a heat source for TGs?
Why use plutonium when sunlight is everywhere? The case for powering thermoelectric generators (TG) with concentrated solar rather than plutonium:
Spacecraft operating in the inner Solar System ...
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How does the James Webb space telescope measure wind shear?
NASA.gov has an image of the James Webb space telescope's nircam tracking a high speed belt near Jupiter's equator. They measured the speed by looking at wind shears in millibars. How does Webb do ...
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Was there a close call for Voyager 2's extended mission due to lost uplink during the Jupiter encounter?
In Uplink-Downlink (2001), Douglas Mudgway says: "[The Jupiter radiation environment] . . . resulted in loss of the uplink connection with the [Voyager 2] spacecraft on the day after encounter. ...
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Meeus on the Positions of the Satellites of Jupiter
Ex. 44.a of Meeus Astronomical Algorithm, Second Edition, provide the position of the Galileans on December 16 1992 at 0h UT (p.311/488).
Procedure 1:
For Io, in terms of the Jupiter's equatorial ...
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Semi-interdependant Jovian Colony [closed]
Given the low $\Delta v$ needed to transfer between the moons of Jupiter even just between the Galilean large moons, and the distribution of heavier molecules and atoms towards the inner system (Io + ...
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Does the planet Jupiter have a liquid surface? [closed]
Is the surface of Jupiter liquid, this is of particular interest because Jupiter has a gaseous atmosphere and liquid hydrogen?
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Radiation Challenges of Crewed Gas Giant Missions
I was thinking about how easy it would be to perform a crewed tour of the Jovian/Saturnian moons, given the low DeltaV, and the abundant opportunities for potential ISRU.
Then, I remembered with that ...
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What is the minimum pressure of a purely CO₂ atmosphere on Europa that can retain enough heat for surface liquid water?
*Ignoring external factors such as Jupiter's magnetosphere blowing this new atmosphere off.
I'm not sure where to begin the maths for that
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Have the Europa Clipper's flybys and gravity assists of Jupiter's moons been pre-planned in detail?
"The Europa Clipper will orbit Jupiter and conduct 44 flybys of Europa, using gravity assists from Europa, Ganymede and Callisto to change its trajectory, allowing the spacecraft to return to a ...
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What resources are available to turn into storable hypergolic on the Jovian moons
I was thinking about whether a mission utilizing ISRU on a lander to refuel a transfer craft.
However, I don't know how to figure out what materials are available in large quantity ON THE EQUATORIAL ...
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Do rocket exhausts produce an electromagnetic signature to allow remote sensing of said rocket?
Rocket exhaust contains ions, the composition of which varies depending on temperature and fuel. https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/3.27825 and https://www.eucass.eu/doi/EUCASS2017-434.pdf
Figure 12 : ...
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What is the value of SpaceX Starship 1200-ton propellant capacity? Would a fully refueled Starship be able to accelerate to Jupiter (for example)? [duplicate]
2200000N (1 Raptor) / 1,300,000*0.4 kg (Total weight adjusted to fuel loss) = 4.2 m/s^2 (acceleration)
Delta-V (to travel to Jupiter) = 9000 m/s
9000 m/s / 4.2 m/s^2 = 2,142 s (1 Raptor engine ...
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Arctic underwater analogue?
Just want to know if the underneath of the arctic ice sheet is a viable analogue for underwater habitation on the larger moons of the gas giants? (Galilean, large Saturnian)
I feel like it would be a ...
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Can Juno use Jupiter's gravity to alter its orbit so that it goes close to Himalia?
Himalia is the most massive and second largest non-Galilean moon of Jupiter. Yet, due to its distant orbit, we still don't have sharp images of it. Does Juno have enough fuel to alter its orbit with ...
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Why do Saturn's rings have the most ice in them?
From what I've read, Saturn's rings are the most visible because they have an icy structure that makes it so the light is more reflective. Why is that the case, and why do other rings of the gas ...
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Why are Jupiter's trojans even remotely stable?
The spacecraft Lucy is en route to explore Jupiter's trojan asteroids. Lucy is so named because the trojan asteroids are believed to be fossil remnants from the formation of the solar sytem. ...
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Is a ballistic Jovian capture using the Galilean moons possible from interplanetary entry?
While spacecraft like Galileo and Juno did use gravity assist to supplement their insertion burns, as answered here, is it possible to enter Jupiter's orbit without a capture burn?
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What are these features on this moon of Jupiter?
My Google background (supplied by "NASA Image Library") has a picture of Jupiter, along with one of its moons (Ganymede? Io?) in the foreground.
What are these two features, that look like a ...
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Would it be possible to use a electrodynamic tether or similar device on or within Europa to generate electricity from Jupiter's magnetosphere?
I was reading about the idea of using an electrodynamic tether to generate electricity for satellites in Earth's orbit using the planet's magnetic field, generating electricity but gradually lowering ...
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Why does Jupiter not appear flat at zero phase angle like the Lommel-Seeliger law says?
Jupiter appears to approximately follow Lambert's cosine law as it looks darker towards its limbs when viewed from the same direction as from where the Sun shines on it. Here an image from the article ...
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Flyby puzzler; starting from Earth, how many times can you use Jupiter flybys in one century?
Is there any limit to how many times you can increase velocity by repeated sling shot manoeuvres? and its answers have got me thinking, and that's always dangerous.
Suppose you have a durable RTG-...
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Is there believed to be sharp boundary between Jupiter's liquid and metallic hydrogen layers and is there much convection and flow between them?
If it's not known, is it reasonable to assume that some Jupiter-like exoplanets might have well separated liquid and metallic hydrogen layers given moderately different temperature and mass?
Author: ...
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Did JUNO adjust it's orbit in order to fly over Clyde's spot again?
Phys.org's Juno returns to 'Clyde's Spot' on Jupiter says:
The feature is informally named for amateur astronomer Clyde Foster of Centurion, South Africa, who discovered it in 2020 using his own 14-...
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Why is it that harmful for astronauts and technology to get too far into Jupiter's magnetosphere? Shouldn't it rather be protective?
Jupiter's radiation belts make it impossible for astronauts to stay on Io, Europa and Ganymede over extended periods of time, as well as getting too close to Jupiter at all. I wonder how close would ...
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Did the spacecrafts Galileo or Juno use the Galilean moons for a gravity assist before entering Jovian orbit?
Galileo and Juno are the only two spacecraft to have entered orbit around Jupiter.
Did either of them use one of the Galilean moons for a gravity brake before in order to enter a stable orbit around ...
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Why is NASA proposing an EMEJ (MEGA) trajectory for Europa Clipper instead of EEJ?
A launch service request was recently put out for Europa Clipper to do a flyby of Mars on its way to Jupiter. How is that a better trajectory than an EEJ, similar to Juno?
Launch Vehicle Performance: ...
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How close a crewed spacecraft could orbit Jupiter?
How close could a crewed spacecraft orbit Jupiter?
I read that Juno was as close as 5,000 km from Jupiter's top clouds, but I'm wondering about a spacecraft with humans inside (provided it's protected ...
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Why is there no plan for a Venus orbiter by ESA or NASA?
A rather complete-looking Wikipedia List of solar system probes enumerates only a few proposed future missions to Venus:
Reading popular science magazines suggests that it would make sense to go ...
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Gravity assist from Jupiter if leaving Callisto?
If I spacecraft was leaving Callisto to return to Earth, would there by any situation where it would use a gravity assist from Jupiter to increase its velocity?
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Was the gravity assist at Jupiter the most dangerous part of the New Horizons mission?
In terms of success of the mission, was the Jupiter fly-by the time when problems with the flight path was most likely to happen?
Was the odds of failure at that point ever studied? If so, what were ...
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Obtaining Europa's samples from Callisto. Possible to identify them? Worthwhile?
A lot has been discussed about the possibility of panspermia between Earth and Mars, and how compact systems such as Trappist-1 can be more prone to that.
Here on Earth, we have identified numerous ...
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Why is the highest speed that Voyager 2 achieved from the Jupiter gravity assist not at perijove?
I plotted some data of the speed of Voyager 2 for various times (around the Jupiter flyby) and noticed that the highest speed that Voyager achieved was not at perijove and was wondering why this might ...
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Why did Pioneer 11 use a gravitational assist to swing above the ecliptic plane... twice?
This answer to What do the shaded vertical lines in the animation of Gravity assists of space probes, mean? shows that the Pioneer 11 trajectory brought it close to both Jupiter and Saturn, and at ...
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What would happen if Jupiter became solid like Earth and condensed to the size of Earth? [closed]
I just want to know, hypothetically, what if Jupiter was solid and condensed to the size of Earth. What would it look like? Would it's characteristics (gravity, orbit, rotation, etc) stay the same, or ...
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What would it take to survive the radiation on the surface of Ganymede?
Out of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter, only Callisto is at a safe distance from its parent planet that the radiation is low enough so one is able to colonize it. Io is totally uncolonizable (from ...
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Will Dragonfly flyby Jupiter en route to Saturn?
The table on the "Exploration of Jupiter" Wikipedia page suggests Dragonfly will be the first mission to the outer planets that will not use a gravity assist from Jupiter. Is there a source confirming ...
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Would a spacecraft landing on Io need a heat shield?
Io is Jupiter's only moon with a considerable atmosphere. Its atmosphere is extremely thin (up to 40 nbar) which obviously is too thin to use a parachute. However a spacecraft would maybe need a heat ...
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Why didn't the Galileo spacecraft take an image in Jupiter's upper atmosphere?
When the Galileo probe was crashed into Jupiter it could have made an image from what is considered the "surface" (level of Earth-like atmospheric pressure) of Jupiter or the atmosphere more below or ...
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Could we use the atmospheres of planets like Mars or Jupiter to separate xenon from them to replenish the engines?
Could we use the atmospheres of planets like Mars or Jupiter to separate xenon from them to replenish the engines? I mean, touch the atmosphere of Mars and separate Argon and Xenon for ionic engines, ...
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Would a space rocket launching from Ceres in a path to Jupiter be faster relatively to the sun than one launching from Earth?
Suppose you have a space rocket which when launching from Earth its speed relatively to Earth it's 11 km/s. For what I've read in another topic in Space SE, the orbital velocity of the planet where a ...
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Can mineralogy maps be made without dedicated instruments? MAGIC at Callisto
While we are still waiting for the official Discovery finalists announcement, and it's perhaps a bit premature to be discussing the proposals, I've been thinking about the exciting MAGIC mission to ...
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How does the dynamics of the Jupiter and Saturn system make them be well suited for low-energy transfer?
Many papers mention that the compact and complex dynamics of the Jupiter and Saturn systems makes them ideal low energy transfer. My question is how?
How does the dynamics of the Jupiter and Saturn ...
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Why are we interested in visiting the giant planets' icy moons?
I have noticed lately that future missions by NASA and ESA are targeted towards the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. They mention that they might be a possibility of life; the icy moons they are focusing ...
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How exactly did Jupiter change Ulysses orbital plane from nearly ecliptic to polar?
Ulysses spacecraft trajectory is truly amazing. Utilizing gravity assist from Jupiter it was sent into polar orbit around the Sun.
I can understand gravity assist concept, I can also (intuitively) ...
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Is the far side of the tidally locked Europa moon safe from Jupiter's radiation?
From Wikipedia's Europa (moon); Orbit and rotation:
Europa orbits Jupiter in just over three and a half days, with an orbital radius of about 670,900 km....and is tidally locked to Jupiter, with ...
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Have gravitation multipoles of Jupiter and Saturn beyond J2 been measured or at least estimated? At least the zonal harmonics?
This excellent answer has me wondering if there are any measurements or estimates of gravitational multipole moments of Jupiter or Saturn beyond J2.
Here is what I found for J2 (in unitless form) in ...
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Did Juno do a plane change circa October 2019? If so, by how much?
There are several reports in the news that the Juno spacecraft executed a very long propulsive maneuver so that it wouldn't pass through Jupiter's shadow. Apparently it would be in dark so long that ...
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Why does this image of Jupiter look so strange?
The Universe Today's Yes, This is Actually the Shadow of Io Passing Across the Surface of Jupiter shows several images of Jupiter taken by JunoCam.
Why does this image look so strange? Instead of an ...
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How far can a piece of spacecraft go, where the signal still reaches planet Earth?
Right now, we don't know the distance of which the spacecraft can go but at the moment, we can go to Jupiter, but the signal takes a long time to reach back to planet Earth.
