Russia, Europe plan to send spacecraft to Jupiter - expert
MOSCOW. Jan 8 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian and European scientists will gather in Moscow in March 2013 to discuss a joint mission to Jupiter's moon, Ganymede, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute Lev Zelyony told Interfax-AVN.
"A discussion will be held on a Russian descent vehicle and on the scenario of a joint project in conjunction with the European Project JUICE," he said.
Yury Zaitsev, an academic advisor with the Russian Academy of Engineering Sciences, earlier told Interfax that Russian scientists have changed the goal of the Laplas mission to send a spacecraft to Jupiter's moon Europa in the absence of Russian radiation-resistant electronic gear and problems in purchasing it in the United States.
"The Laplas scenario has been revised. A calculation suggests that neither an orbital spacecraft, nor a descent vehicle can be built on time in the absence of Russian radiation-resistant components. The radiation-resistant components available are U.S.-made, and they are very expensive," he said.
"Therefore, the mission needs to be simplified and its initial goal - landing on Europa - has been replaced by landing on Ganymede which is friendlier in terms of radiation.
Ganymede is less studied than Europa. It is the largest natural satellite in the Solar System and it is 8% larger than Mercury. It presumably has a deep salt ocean, covered with a thick layer of ice. Studies of this ocean will be the next important stage after Mars in scientists' efforts to find life in the Solar System, Zaitsev said.
Ganymede has its own magnetic field - a unique magnetic shield that protects it from Jupiter's strong radiation belts. It is a great challenge to study this shield's effectiveness. "Ganymede is strongly tied to Jupiter with gravitation and electromagnetic fields. Information about this interaction is important for better understanding the nature of the unique satellite system around Jupiter," he said.
If a mission is launched to Ganymede, information from the Russian descent vehicle could be transmitted using a European JUICE responder.
Both the European and Russian projects have been adjusted. Due to financial problems NASA has withdrawn from the ExoMars European project and from the joint flight to Europe. The United States' withdrawal from the European project necessitated changes in the mission scenario in order to comply with the European Space Agency's modest budget. As a result, the purely European scenario envisions studies of three satellites, covered with ice and thought to contain water: Callisto, Europa and Ganymede. The spacecraft will also study the near-Jupiter space.
The European and Russian missions are being prepared separately so far, but exchanges of instruments are envisioned. The Russian space agency Roscosmos has urged the ESA to better coordinate the Laplas and JUICE projects. If ExoMars is a success, cooperation under the Jupiter mission could be similar to that under the Marsian project, based on a common program and data exchanges," Zaitsev said.
