Exploration of Jupiter
|
System
Spacecraft |
Jupiter | Saturn | Uranus | Neptune | Pluto |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneer 10 | 1973 flyby | ||||
| Pioneer 11 | 1974 flyby | 1979 flyby | |||
| Voyager 1 | 1979 flyby | 1980 flyby | |||
| Voyager 2 | 1979 flyby | 1981 flyby | 1986 flyby | 1989 flyby | |
| Galileo |
1995–2003 orbiter; 1995, 2003 atmospheric |
||||
| Ulysses | 1992, 2004 gravity assist | ||||
| Cassini–Huygens | 2000 gravity assist |
2004– orbiter; 2005 Titan lander |
|||
| New Horizons | 2007 gravity assist | 2015 flyby | |||
| Juno | 2016– orbiter |
The exploration of Jupiter has been conducted via close observations by automated spacecraft. It began with the arrival of Pioneer 10 into the Jovian system in 1973, and, as of 2016[update], has continued with eight further spacecraft missions. All of these missions were undertaken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and all but two have been flybys that take detailed observations without the probe landing or entering orbit. These probes make Jupiter the most visited of the Solar System's outer planets as all missions to the outer Solar System have used Jupiter flybys to reduce fuel requirements and travel time. On 5 July 2016, spacecraft Juno arrived and entered the planet's orbit—the second craft ever to do so. Sending a craft to Jupiter entails many technical difficulties, especially due to the probes' large fuel requirements and the effects of the planet's harsh radiation environment.
The first spacecraft to visit Jupiter was Pioneer 10 in 1973, followed a year later by Pioneer 11. Aside from taking the first close-up pictures of the planet, the probes discovered its magnetosphere and its largely fluid interior. The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes visited the planet in 1979, and studied its moons and the ring system, discovering the volcanic activity of Io and the presence of water ice on the surface of Europa. Ulysses further studied Jupiter's magnetosphere in 1992 and then again in 2000. The Cassini probe approached the planet in 2000 and took very detailed images of its atmosphere. The New Horizons spacecraft passed by Jupiter in 2007 and made improved measurements of its and its satellites' parameters.
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