How long would it take us to go to Jupiter?
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. And no one seems to be
talking much about the gas giant. So we thought to take matters into our
own hands and talk about how long it would take for us to go to Jupiter.
Well the answer to that question depends upon a number of factors like distance, path,
speed and who is going to Jupiter. So let’s discuss these in great detail one by one in
this video and understand how long it will take to reach the biggest planet in our solar system.
Jupiter is one of the most important planets in our solar system. With giant
anti-cyclonic storms and a magnetosphere so powerful that it defies comprehension,
Jupiter is an intriguing planet. Many people would prefer to go to Saturn obviously because
of its beautiful rings, but Jupiter too won’t disappoint you. There are many reasons to go to
Jupiter like its icy moons, which we will discuss later in the video. But if you were to escape
Earth for some reason a cost-benefit observation would show that Jupiter is a more viable option.
SO why would we want to travel to Jupiter?
One of the most compelling reasons to visit Jupiter would be its moons. Even though Jupiter
is a gas giant, it has 79 rocky moons. It’s almost like a mini solar system of its own.
Jupiter’s moons like Europa, Ganymede, Callisto might contain vast reserves of liquid water
underneath their icy shells and can be the best place to look for life in our solar system.
So if we decide to go to Jupiter how much distance we would need to cover?
The Journey to Jupiter is going to be a long one. Earth and Jupiter are like sprinters sprinting on
a clay track under the scorching sun. Because they circle around the Sun at different speeds,
the distance between them varies all the time. The distance between them is approximately 365
million miles at their closest point, and 600 million miles at their furthest point.
Just to give you an idea, 600 miles is more than 24,000 times the circumference of the Earth. And
to get a better idea of how far Jupiter is, it would take us approximately 800 years if we try
to travel to Jupiter at 70 mph, which is the normal speed for our cars. The two celestial
bodies are approximately 483 million miles apart on an average. Keeping these things in mind,
scientists must weigh the benefits of burning more fuel vs the significant cost outlay and time
required to reach the goal. The time it takes to travel to a distant planet is determined not only
by technical advances in propulsion technologies, but also by how all of the planets are aligned.
Since we are talking about going to Jupiter, what about spacecrafts that have already been
to Jupiter? There have been spacecraft in the past that have actually been to Jupiter.
In the 1970s, four NASA spacecrafts, Pioneer 10 and 11, and Voyager 1 and 2 were launched.
All four of them took a direct route to the gas giant. Even though all of these traveled to
Jupiter none of them stayed around. They used Jupiter’s gravity assist which flung them out
towards the outer solar system. But in the past there have been only two spacecraft which actually
stuck around- Galileo and Juno. Both missions followed a more indirect route to Jupiter,
relying on the gravitational pull of the inner planets to accelerate through the asteroid belt
and into Jupiter's orbit. Taking the long route requires less fuel, which is required to slow
down sufficiently to establish a stable orbit. So how long did these trips take?
NASA's Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to reach Jupiter. It traveled the shortest route
possible, taking only 640 days—just under two years. Despite this, it barely arrived within
130,000 kilometers of Jupiter. When a spaceship just intends to observe the planet superficially,
it takes faster paths. Pioneer 10 probe took a few photographs of Jupiter before continuing
its journey towards the outer solar system. In a similar fashion Pioneer 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2
took roughly around 600 days, but also were able to reach much closer to Jupiter than Pioneer 10,
getting within 22,000 kilometers of the gas giant. The Galileo mission which was launched by NASA
with the specific goal of researching Jupiter and its moons was the first space mission to spend
several years orbiting the planet. To stay close to the planet, a spacecraft must travel slowly and
follow a more roundabout route in order to enter Jupiter's orbit and conduct its inquiry. A "too
fast" spaceship would simply fly past the planet without entering its orbit. The Galileo mission
took 2,242 days—nearly 6 years—to reach Jupiter, but it did it at precisely the appropriate
velocity. Galileo, the first spacecraft to spend several years in Jupiter's orbit, used a VEGA
(Venus Earth Gravity Assist) course. The spaceship had one near contact with Venus, then two rounds
about Earth before being hurled off like a disc towards our solar system's main planet. The
fastest any spacecraft traveled to Jupiter was the New Horizons probe which traveled at around 45,000
mph, reaching the giant planet in only about 405 days. On its approach to Pluto and other minor
planets, this space probe had an unusual flyby. It took advantage of Jupiter's tremendous gravity to
increase its speed and optimize its path towards the dwarf planet Pluto. The gravity assist from
Jupiter helped New Horizons increase the probe’s velocity by approximately 8700 miles/hour.
This helped in truncating its trip to our solar system’s beloved dwarf planet by 3 years!
If we talk about sending humans to Jupiter, there might be quite a few other things to keep in mind,
and the missions would also take a bit longer than the spacecraft.
The farthest humans have been in outer space is the moon. We haven’t been back to the moon also
for the last 50 years and are finally returning now, thanks to the Artemis missions. According
to NASA, the shortest, most fuel-efficient path to Mars would take nine months one way and 21 months
round trip. If we generalize the methods used to compute this path, a similar one-way trip to
Jupiter would take almost six years. NASA also predicts that a four-person crew would require
8,000 pounds of food every year, implying that a four-person mission to Jupiter would require
48,000 pounds of food simply to get there, and significantly more to return.
In addition, all of the life-support and research equipment would have to be sent
into orbit from Earth. On top of this we also need to reach Jupiter safely.
Astronauts would face a lot of challenges. One of the biggest one being radiation. Aside from
the continual bombardment of radiation from the sun, which is unprotected by our magnetosphere,
space travelers will have to shield themselves against galactic cosmic rays,
which can cause genetic damage and cancer. Astronauts will also face various psychological
issues while spending lots of time in space. Long-term space flight can cause anxiety,
which might exacerbate interactions with other crew members. Isolation from family and friends,
along with a routine work schedule, exacerbates these symptoms. Even though astronauts are trained
for this, they are trained on earth. Once you go outside of our home planet and see the blue marble
floating in space, it changes your perspective. Thanks to NASA’s new generation suits and the
upcoming Artemis missions these challenges will be perfected and improved upon in the coming years.
While traveling to Jupiter, there is also the route which scientists have to keep in mind. A
spacecraft can travel a straight path (like the Pioneers and Voyagers did) or a longer,
more roundabout path (like Galileo or Juno). A lengthier trip would need them passing close to
a planet's orbit. This is why their alignment with respect to each other is of critical importance.
The planet’s gravitational pull lures a spacecraft inside when traveling towards
it and then slingshots it on its way around and back out. The spacecraft has to rely on
the planet’s orbital energy to achieve this. The loss of energy is so tiny that even though
the planet loses some amount of its energy, the retardation in motion is negligible.
At last there is the question of which is a more efficient method to reach Jupiter?
While you may get to Jupiter faster and in less time by burning more fuel, there is a
more fuel-efficient method that will save you a lot of money and other valuable resources.
Furthermore, money isn't the only barrier in this situation. Satellites moving at high speeds also
struggle to slow down to the proper velocity and settle into a celestial body's orbit.
However, spacecraft, like any typical trip through a low-lit planetarium giving you a tour
of the solar system, are built to speed by planets with the goal of only glancing at the planet and
taking a few shots before flying off to explore the unknown ahead. This is known as a flyby.
Jupiter is one of the most active and interesting planets in our solar system. Jupiter's moons,
which have enormous seas behind thick ice shells, may just provide the right environment for life
to develop and are among the top contenders for life outside Earth in our solar system.
Fortunately, we have two major space missions planned to visit Jupiter's moons. The first is
NASA's Europa Clipper, which was created expressly to examine Europa, one of Jupiter's 79 moons.
It is scheduled to launch in 2024 and is expected to reach Jupiter's orbit by 2031.
As previously explained, in order to remain in Jupiter's orbit,
the spaceship must follow a long meandering course with reduced velocity, rather than
just whizzing past it. Another project, the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission,
is planned by the European Space Agency to launch in 2022 and reach Jupiter's orbit by 2029.
In brief, an extremely fast spaceship like New Horizons can reach Jupiter in little over a year,
but if the goal of the space mission is only to fly past Jupiter, it would take roughly 550-650
days on average. To examine the planet and its moons by entering Jupiter's orbit, a spacecraft
must be slow enough to reach Jupiter's orbit at precisely the appropriate speed,
allowing it to be "caught" by the gas giant. The gas giant has many things to offer to us
and will be a valuable resource to understand about our solar system. So will we be able to
reduce the time taken to reach jupiter? When will Humans even try such a mission? Let us
know what you think in the comment section below and share the video with your friends!