Translated material
Span normal
New Horizons will train on Jovian moons
On Thursday, January 18, NASA announced that the New Horizons probe is approaching Jupiter's orbit. This is the first “way station” on the long journey of the research vehicle to the boundaries of the Solar system. In July 2015, New Horizons should approach Pluto and begin studying this dwarf planet. But already in February of this year, the probe will test its technical capabilities on the largest giant planet."New Horizons" has been in space for a whole year - the rocket with this device launched from Cape Canaveral on January 19, 2006. The probe is considered the fastest of all spacecraft ever launched from Earth. He must reach his goal - the Kuiper Belt - in just nine years. Previous spacecraft spent much more time reaching this extremely distant zone from the Sun. Despite the fact that along the way, New Horizons crosses the orbits of four planets - Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto, the probe only comes close enough to Jupiter to be able to carefully examine and explore this giant and its surroundings.
The fifth planet will be in sight of New Horizons for about six months - from January to June. During this time, NASA engineers will be able to kill not even two, but three birds with one stone. Firstly, passing through Jupiter's gravitational zone will allow the probe's speed to increase slightly. Secondly, since the device will pass only 2.3 million km from the center of the planet, the instruments will be able to practice observing the surface and magnetosphere of Jupiter. Finally, the results of this operational testing could give scientists additional information about the gas giant.
In particular, New Horizons will for the first time carefully study the so-called. The “Little Red Spot” is a region of stable vortex in the Jovian atmosphere. In addition, the probe will observe the rings and satellites of Jupiter. The latter are very similar to those celestial bodies for the study of which the apparatus was created. Large asteroids and dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt are quite comparable to Io, Europa, and Ganymede. It is especially noted that New Horizons will pass through the “tail” of Jupiter’s magnetosphere for the first time, and scientists expect to obtain unique data on the structure of this field.
And after the probe leaves the vicinity of Jupiter, the Earth will have to wait a long time while the fastest of all spacecraft crawls towards Pluto. In 2015, New Horizons is scheduled to fly past Pluto and look at it up close. After this, the device will continue to move away from the Sun, studying those cosmic pebbles that end up next to it. Ultimately, the probe must reach the boundaries of the solar system and leave it forever.