<h2>Shell Game</h2>
New calculations suggest that Jupiter&#8217;s moon Europa and Saturn&#8217;s moon Enceladus could have active tidal waves, much like those here on Earth, under their thick icy shells — and that could be increase the potential of finding extraterrestrial life on either moon.
&#8220;I can imagine organisms anchored to the sea floor or the ice benefiting from these waves,&#8221; NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory researcher Steven Vance <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2188318-crashing-tidal-waves-may-lurk-beneath-the-surface-of-icy-moons/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told New Scientist</a> of the new findings. &#8220;If these standing waves do occur, maybe these spots where they focus are also focal points for life.&#8221;
<h2>New Wave</h2>
The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0019103518304718?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new research</a> in the journal Icarus comes out of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, where scientists calculated how the enormous gravitational pull from Jupiterand Saturn— the most massive planets in the solar system — would affect the liquid water under the icy shells of Europa and Enceladus, two of the planets&#8217; moons.
Scientists have <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-nuclear-powered-tunnel-bot-life-europa">long been interested</a> in the dark oceans of these moons as a potential home for life beyond Earth, so the promise of tidal waves under their ice is an exciting finding — it could give a way, Vance told New Scientist, for nutrients and energy to flow between the moons&#8217; cores and shells.
<div>
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2188318-crashing-tidal-waves-may-lurk-beneath-the-surface-of-icy-moons/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crashing Tidal Waves May Lurk Beneath the Surface of Icy Moons</a> [New Scientist]
</div>
<div>
More on Jupiter&#8217;s moons: <a href="https://futurism.com/alone-nasas-search-life-europa-hope-find" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Are We Alone? NASA’s Search For Life On Europa &amp; How They Hope To Find It</a>
</div>

"I can imagine organisms anchored to the sea floor or the ice benefiting from these waves."

The moons of Jupiter and Saturn could have Earth-like tidal waves

Off World

New calculations suggest that two of Jupiter and Saturn's moons could have active tidal waves, much like those here on Earth, under their thick icy shells.

The Moons of Jupiter and Saturn Could Have Earth-Like Tidal Waves

New finding bolsters the case for alien life.

<h2>A Star Is Born*</h2>
*Two billion years ago. But still: the star CI Tau is small and young, <a href="http://www.exoplanetkyoto.org/exohtml/CI_Tau.html">comparatively speaking</a>. It&#8217;s about 80 percent the size of our own Sun and less than half its age. But the planets orbiting the star? Another matter entirely. New research shows that they&#8217;re absolute units, dwarfing the largest planets in our own system by an enormous margin. And their sheer magnitude, some believe, could change scientists&#8217; understanding of how planets form.
<h2>Large Adult Planets</h2>
We already knew about one planet orbiting CI Tau: <a href="https://www.space.com/42147-alien-solar-system-four-huge-exoplanets.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CI Tau b</a>. That planet&#8217;s 10 times the size of Jupiter, but whips around its star every nine Earth days. Jupiter, by comparison, makes it around our Sun only <a href="https://www.universetoday.com/44202/how-long-does-it-take-jupiter-to-orbit-the-sun/">once every 12 years</a>.
Now, a <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aae36b">new paper</a> published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters describes CI Tau b&#8217;s three colossal brothers.
A ring of dust and gas known as a &#8220;protoplanetary disk&#8221; surrounds CI Tau. The researchers aimed a network of Chilean radio telescopes at this disk and spotted telltale gaps that almost certainly mean that the little star has three more massive planets. One is three times the size of Jupiter, while the two others are only as big as Saturn. Only.
<h2>Large Astronomy Shakeup.</h2>
Astronomers previously thought that mega gas planets formed slowly, over periods longer than CI Tau has been around. One of the researchers who discovered CI Tau&#8217;s planets, Farzana Meru, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/huge-alien-planets-detected-around-baby-star-first-time-ever-ncna921196">told NBC</a> that the huge gas balls upend that understanding.
Under the right circumstances, it appears, these planets can form far more quickly than we thought possible.
We&#8217;ll probably never make it out to CI Tau, which is 500 light-years away. But for now, we&#8217;ll keep an eye peeled for more news about its brood of giant planets and anything they can tell us about the formation of the cosmos.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.space.com/42147-alien-solar-system-four-huge-exoplanets.html">Record Breaker: 4 Huge Alien Planets Spotted Around Baby Star</a> [Space.com]
More on exoplanets: <a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-discover-3-new-super-earth-exoplanets">Scientists Discover 3 New “Super-Earth” Exoplanets</a>

These new planets are massive. So is what they could teach us.

Time to Shine, CI Tau

CI Tau is a small star. But new research shows that its planets are absolute units, dwarfing the largest planets in our own system by an enormous margin.

These New Planets Are Massive. So Is What They Could Teach Us.

One of them is 10 times the size of Jupiter, but whips around its star every nine days.

Ever wonder why  water on other planets it’s so important to scientists? Here’s what you should know about H2O.

Ever wonder why water on other planets is so important to scientists? Here’s what you should know about H2O on other worlds.

Here's Why Finding Water On Other Planets is So Important

Here’s Why Finding Water On Other Planets is So Important

EVER-INCREASING &#8220;GREATNESS.&#8221; Jupiter&#8217;s Great Red Spot used to be &#8220;great&#8221; — the hurricane-like storm swirling above the planet&#8217;s surface is twice as wide as the Earth and has been going strong for 150 years.
Now, it&#8217;s great for another reason: According to a team of researchers from NASA and several U.S. universities, the Great Red Spot contains the first evidence of water on Jupiter.
The team published its <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aad186/meta" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research</a> in The Astronomical Journal on August 17.
TWO TELESCOPES. ONE CONCLUSION. Two instruments located on Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano in Hawaii, made possible the team&#8217;s discovery of water in Jupiter&#8217;s atmosphere.
The first, <a href="http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/~ishell/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">iSHELL</a> on the <a href="http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA Infrared Telescope Facility</a>, detects gases across the color spectrum; the second, the <a href="https://jwst.nasa.gov/nirspec.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec)</a> on the <a href="http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/images/aerial-tour-98/keck2.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Keck 2</a> telescope, is the planet&#8217;s most sensitive infrared telescope.
Using radiation data collected by these two instruments, the researchers determined that the Great Red Spot has three distinct cloud layers, and that the layer highest above the cloud tops is likely composed of frozen water.
&#8220;By formulating and analyzing data obtained using ground-based telescopes, our team has detected the chemical signatures of water deep beneath the surface of Jupiter&#8217;s Great Red Spot,&#8221; said researcher Máté Ádámkovics <a href="http://newsstand.clemson.edu/mediarelations/water-discovered-in-the-great-red-spot-indicates-jupiter-might-have-plenty-more/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in a press release</a>.
All told, the researchers think Jupiter could actually host much more water than we have here on Earth.
LOOKING AHEAD. There&#8217;s a lot that this discovery of water in Jupiter&#8217;s Great Red Spot could tell us.
For one, it could help us understand <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-08/nsfc-han082918.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how our solar system formed</a> and why Jupiter&#8217;s atmosphere is so darn turbulent. If <a href="https://futurism.com/icymi-nasas-1-1-billion-spacecraft-soars-over-jupiter-in-first-flyby/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA&#8217;s Juno spacecraft</a>, which is currently orbiting Jupiter and looking for signs of water, confirms the results of this study, we could then use the same technique to estimate the total amount of water on Jupiter and our solar system&#8217;s other gas planets: Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
And, of course, there&#8217;s always the hunt for extraterrestrial life to consider.
&#8220;[W]here there’s the potential for liquid water, the possibility of life cannot be completely ruled out,&#8221; said Ádámkovics. &#8220;So, though it appears very unlikely, life on Jupiter is not beyond the range of our imaginations.”
READ MORE: <a href="http://newsstand.clemson.edu/mediarelations/water-discovered-in-the-great-red-spot-indicates-jupiter-might-have-plenty-more/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Water Discovered in the Great Red Spot Indicates Jupiter Might Have Plenty More</a> [Clemson University]
More on JUNO: <a href="https://futurism.com/icymi-nasas-1-1-billion-spacecraft-soars-over-jupiter-in-first-flyby/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yesterday, Nasa’s Juno Spacecraft Soared Over Jupiter in Its First-Ever Flyby</a>

The planet could host much more water than Earth.

There's water in Jupiter's atmosphere

Hard Science

Based on data from two ground-based telescopes, researchers believe there's water on Jupiter, perhaps far more than on Earth.

There's Water in Jupiter's Atmosphere

Turns out Jupiter might be a strong contender for hosting life elsewhere in our solar system.

There’s Water in Jupiter’s Atmosphere

For almost two decades, researchers have suspected liquid water lies below the icy shell of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. Now, a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-018-0450-z">new study in</a> Nature Astronomy not only proves they were right, but also confirms that it does something more awesome than they could have imagined: it shoots up out of the crust in big, beautiful plumes. 
Liquid water is, more or less, what NASA looks for when it decides what celestial body to explore next. That&#8217;s because water is <a href="https://lco.global/spacebook/what-are-requirements-life-arise-and-survive/">thought to be one of the necessities for life</a>, because, let&#8217;s be real, finding life on other planets is pretty much the whole reason humans are so fascinated by space in the first place. And while NASA <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/europa">already has plans to explore Europa</a>, this is the most heartening sign of life that planetary scientists have been waiting for. 
Even crazier? We&#8217;ve had the data proving that the plumes exist since 1997. <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/galileo/">Galileo</a>, the spacecraft sent to gather information about Jupiter and its moons that plunged to its demise in 2003, collected it way back then, but scientists have only just now gotten around to analyzing the truly monumental pile of data. 
Xianzhe Jia, a planetary scientist at the University of Michigan, heard astronomers suspected the plumes sat on the moon’s equator, but couldn’t get a good look at them with the Hubble Space Telescope, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/05/14/610357799/icy-moon-of-jupiter-spews-water-plumes-into-space">he told NPR</a>. Jia, however, had worked with Galileo’s data when he was a graduate student, so he had a good sense for the kind of data the probe typically collected. When Jia and his team sifted through the observations of plasma and magnetic wave fluctuations Galileo picked up on Europa, Jia and his team were able to confirm that, yes, the geysers did, in fact, exist.
That&#8217;s particularly exciting because it also suggests that Europa may have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/09/26/nasa-just-saw-europas-geysers-erupting-into-space-again/">an energy source</a> propelling the water skyward. That&#8217;s another requirement for life that might be checked off the list — in fact, some scientists theorize that <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/nuclear-geyser-may-be-origin-of-life">life on Earth started</a> in the deep sea vents that erupt in geysers.
For the most part, NASA <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/Water:_Molecule_of_Life.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doesn’t bother</a> searching for life in solid water (that is, in ice) because molecules don&#8217;t flow as freely. But researchers suspected that Europa may have lakes under its icy crust that made it worthy of investigation. That&#8217;s why NASA has already spent years planning the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/europa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Europa Clipper</a> to investigate the moon for liquid. 
The geysers make the mission’s job much easier. Not only do the plumes suggest that subsurface ocean likely exists, but it also means the Clipper, and any future mission, can just fly through the spewing mist for a sample, instead of hacking through the icy crust. 
Now that we have the geysers to sail through, some of Clipper’s gear, like the instruments meant to detect the tiniest traces of water in the atmosphere, might not be as useful as NASA thought it would be. Otherwise, Clipper will be taking full advantage of the waterworks. A radar device will look past the ice for hidden lakes, and the craft will also learn how deep and salty the water is based on the moon’s magnetic field. 
 
Clipper isn&#8217;t slated to launch until the 2020s. That might seem far away, but new information about the geysers may give NASA a chance to reconfigure the scientific tools and goals of the spacecraft. And now that the geysers have whet our thirst for more information, whatever Clipper finds will be worth the wait.

The search for alien life just got a whole lot more interesting.

Like your most drunken Saturday nights, Jupiter’s moon spews liquid

The geysers of water, confirmed with data gathered 20 years ago, make NASA's search for life on Europa as easy as hopping through a lawn sprinkler.

A Beautiful, 20-Year Old “New” Discovery: Jupiter Moon’s Massive Liquid Plumes

And they could hold secrets of alien life there, too. 

Scientists know surprisingly little about the deep interiors of gas giants, such as Saturn and Jupiter, but that&#8217;s changing. In four new studies, <a href="https://press.nature.com/?post_type=press_release&amp;p=106981&amp;WT.ec_id=PRESS&amp;shunter=1507649818489" target="_blank" rel="noopener">separately published in Nature</a>, scientists provide incredible insights into what life is like below Jupiter&#8217;s clouds. Their observations and analyses stem from key findings from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/overview/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA&#8217;s Juno mission</a>.
<figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/juno-mission-to-jupiter-nasa-lego-infographic/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/08/HomeThumb-6.jpg" alt="Juno: Mission to Jupiter [INFOGRAPHIC]" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/juno-mission-to-jupiter-nasa-lego-infographic/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></figure>
Previous studies of Jupiter focused on the planet&#8217;s most obvious features &#8211; its dark bands, bright zones, and big red spot &#8211; but these four studies use small signatures from the gas giant&#8217;s gravitational field to dig much deeper.
In one study, Luciano Iess and colleagues found that the planet&#8217;s unusual <a href="http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature25776" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gravitational field</a>, which doesn&#8217;t show north-south symmetry, is the result of wind flows in its atmosphere and interior.
In another, Yohai Kaspi and colleagues looked deeper into this wind and confirmed that <a href="http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature25793" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jupiter&#8217;s jet streams</a> extend as far as 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) below cloud level. That group also determined that Jupiter&#8217;s atmosphere accounts for 1 percent of its total mass.
Perhaps even more exciting is what Tristan Guillot and his team determined rests below these jet streams. According to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature25775" target="_blank" rel="noopener">their analysis</a>, 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) below the surface of Jupiter&#8217;s clouds is a fluid mix of hydrogen and helium that rotates like a solid body.
<iframe width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pYUm9P8mfsc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Lastly, Alberto Adriani and colleagues took a closer look at <a href="http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature25491" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jupiter&#8217;s cyclones</a> using Juno&#8217;s visible and infrared observations of the planet&#8217;s poles.
We&#8217;ve long known that cyclones swirl about on Jupiter, but we still do not understand where they come from or why they never merge. What we do know now, based on the research of Adriani and his team, is that these cyclones consistently make polygonal patterns.
NASA launched Juno in 2011, and since the craft <a href="https://futurism.com/icymi-nasas-1-1-billion-spacecraft-soars-over-jupiter-in-first-flyby/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reached Jupiter in 2016</a>, it&#8217;s provided invaluable insights into the gas giant. We now know that Jupiter&#8217;s environmental pressures and patterns create more than just the beautiful bands we may be familiar with. They are hiding cyclones that create stunning patterns, deep-diving jet streams, and a rigid, yet fluid, body.
These studies do more than greatly increase our understanding Jupiter, though. They could tell us more about similar planets, such as Saturn, and maybe even help us understand the <a href="https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/origin?show=hs_origin_story_whats-in-jupiters-core" target="_blank" rel="noopener">origin of our solar system</a>.

The planet isn't totally made of gas, but you still can't stand on its surface.

We now know what lies beneath Jupiter's clouds

Using data from NASA's Juno mission, four new studies reveal incredible information about what lies beneath Jupiter's clouds.

We Now Know What Lies Beneath Jupiter's Clouds

The gas giant isn’t 100 percent gas.

We Now Know What Lies Beneath Jupiter’s Clouds

<h2>Evaluating Europa</h2>
Jupiter&#8217;s moon Europa is a hotbed of astrobiological interest. Below its icy crust is a deep ocean of liquid water, kept warm by energy from Jupiter&#8217;s gravitational interactions with the moon. While NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are <a href="https://futurism.com/its-official-in-2025-nasa-and-the-esa-will-land-on-europa-to-look-for-alien-life/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">planning for a 2025 mission</a> to evaluate the potential for life on Europa up close, Brazilian researchers linked to the University of São Paulo (USP) <a href="https://phys.org/news/2018-02-based-hydrothermal-sources-possibility-life.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have developed a model</a> that uses similar environments on Earth to evaluate how habitable the moon may be for microbial life.
<figure id="attachment_124632" style="width: 660px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-124632 size-full" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2018/02/europa.jpg" alt="The surface of Europa, with bluish-white ice crisscrossed by reddish-brown streaks and cracks. Life on Europa may survive far beneath that icy shell by living off nuclear energy." width="660" height="323" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Europa is an icy candidate for identifying life in the universe. Image Credit: NASA</figcaption></figure>
The study, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-18470-z" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published in the journal </a><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-18470-z" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scientific Reports</a>, looked at the Mponeng gold mine near Johannesburg, South Africa. This very deep mine is leaking water full of radioactive uranium. The uranium&#8217;s presence breaks down water molecules into highly reactive free radicals, which then dissolves the surrounding rocks and releases sulfate. The researchers found that the bacteria could use that sulfate to create energy.
&#8220;This is the first time an ecosystem has been found to survive directly on the basis of nuclear energy,&#8221; said Douglas Galante, the study coordinator, <a href="https://phys.org/news/2018-02-based-hydrothermal-sources-possibility-life.html">in a press release</a>.
By this method, the bacteria are able to survive without sunlight. Galante&#8217;s team says that the Mponeng mine is an analog for what the bottom of Europa&#8217;s ocean may look like.
<h2>Locating Life</h2>
Not only does Europa likely have about twice as much water as Earth; many think that <a href="https://futurism.com/searching-for-life-nasa-evidence-shows-europa-is-far-more-earth-like-than-thought/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this ocean is more Earth-like</a> than originally expected. Galante explained in the press release that, because Europa&#8217;s ocean bed is similar to that of an early Earth, &#8220;studying Europa today is to some extent like looking back at our own planet in the past.&#8221; <figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/when-did-life-on-earth-first-appear/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/05/Homepage-Thumbnail-30.jpg" alt="How Life Evolved on Earth (Infographic)" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/when-did-life-on-earth-first-appear/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></figure>
Understanding the conditions in which organisms can evolve and survive will help to support <a href="https://www.space.com/24926-nasa-europa-mission-2015-budget.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the 2025 mission to Europa</a>. This expedition, dubbed the Joint Europa Mission (JEM), will hopefully use this advancing knowledge to fulfill its mission of locating biosignatures of life on Europa.
While the JEM is years away, researchers can use this information begin to predict what life may be found. From this study, it seems as though microscopic organisms, if found, would likely be extremophiles. As this parallel between early Earth and Europa becomes clearer, this work will also serve to expand our understanding of how life can originate in the universe, and what is truly possible.

Bacteria could survive in Europa's icy oceans by creating energy from nuclear radiation.

Life on Europa could survive off nuclear energy, research finds

A study of a mine in South Africa discovered bacterium that can live off nuclear energy, which may be possible for life on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons.

Life on Europa Could Survive off Nuclear Energy, Research Finds

Conditions here on Earth are analogous to those on Europa. 

<h2>Death to Spacecraft</h2>
The Juno space probe is a craft operated by NASA&#8217;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory that orbits the planet Jupiter. It is allowing researchers never-before-seen insight into our Solar System&#8217;s largest planet. Specifically, Juno is on the verge of allowing scientists, for the first time ever, to &#8220;see&#8221; Jupiter&#8217;s magnetic field. But will this victory cost Juno its &#8220;life&#8221;? <a href="https://www.universetoday.com/129669/jupiters-magnetosphere-will-blow-mind-kills-spacecraft/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Experts have begun to weigh in on the dangers that exploring extraterrestrial cosmic bodies pose to our technology</a>.
Jupiter&#8217;s magnetosphere is truly a behemoth within our Solar System. At nearly 5 million kilometers (3 million miles) wide, it is nearly 15 times larger than the Sun and remains one of the largest structures within the entire system. But up until recently, we hadn&#8217;t been able to <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6550&amp;utm_source=iContact&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=NASAJPL&amp;utm_content=daily20160630" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directly &#8220;see&#8221; this massive structure until Juno entered Jupiter&#8217;s magnetic field in the summer of 2016</a>.
<figure id="attachment_112100" style="width: 726px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-112100" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/11/magnetosphere.jpg" alt="jupiter magnetosphere nasa juno venus" width="726" height="1024" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Work being done on the radiation vault for NASA&#8217;s Juno probe. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LMSS</figcaption></figure>
But what cost do we have to pay to explore such magnificent cosmic structures? It turns out that exploring such terrain presents a host of potentially disastrous problems for exploratory spacecraft. Jupiter&#8217;s magnetosphere contains charged particles from the Sun that make up radiation belts around the planet. Millions of times stronger than Earth&#8217;s Van Allen belts, this intense radiation is a major factor in Juno&#8217;s ability to observe and survive the journey.
<h2>Space-Proof Space Probes</h2>
To survive the magnetosphere, Juno was equipped with a huge, titanium radiation vault that limits radiation exposure to the craft&#8217;s most vital components. However, these crucial instruments have to be outside of this vault observe their mission targets, so researchers have come up with a plethora of ways to protect the sensitive instruments while obtaining as much data as possible.
But if there are such difficulties in observing one of the largest structures within our own Solar System, what do Juno&#8217;s struggles say about the future of space exploration? Cosmic radiation coupled with varying temperature extremes alongside a host of other harsh conditions make venturing further seem impossible.<figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/eyesinspace/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2015/10/9.png" alt="Our Eyes in Space: Highlighting all the Active Solar System Probes" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/eyesinspace/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></figure>
Of the many planets which scientists have found to be potentially habitable, <a href="https://futurism.com/could-there-be-life-on-venus-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some have suggested that Venus might have the potential to hold life</a>. But the surface of Venus is riddled with toxic air that washes over a burning landscape. At <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/venus-deadly-surface-conditions-2016-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Glenn Extreme Environments Rig (GEER), researchers have recreated Venus-like conditions</a> that Gustavo Costa, a chemist and materials scientist who&#8217;s working with GEER, described as &#8220;Hell on Earth,&#8221; to try to create spacecraft capable of withstanding such conditions. However, creating probes that can withstand these conditions remains a major challenge. &#8220;One of the last probes to visit Venus was Venera 13 [in 1982], and it only survived for about 2 hours and 7 minutes. Venus is very, very corrosive,&#8221; said Costa.
As we expand our sights farther out into the Solar System and far beyond, as many hope and plan to do, our technology must keep up. Currently, aside from extreme temperatures and surface conditions, radiation seems to be one of the most pressing and &#8220;life&#8221;-threatening factors facing exploratory spacecraft. The efforts taken to allow Juno to explore Jupiter&#8217;s magnetosphere are astounding, but if scientists are to continue pushing further out into the Universe, new ways to protect from radiation while continuously allowing for data collection and observation must be created.

Our exploratory spacecraft are no exception to the violence of outer space.

Extreme conditions of alien worlds damage spacecraft irreparably

Experts have begun to weigh in on the dangers that exploring extraterrestrial cosmic bodies pose to our technology, including Juno's exploration of Jupiter.

Extreme Conditions of Alien Worlds Damage Spacecraft Irreparably

They don't just kill life as we know it. They also kill technology.

<h2>The Juno Probe</h2>
Even after decades of study, Jupiter’s atmosphere continues to be something of a mystery to scientists. Consistent with the planet’s size, its atmosphere is the largest in the Solar System, spanning over 5,000 km (3,000 mi) in altitude and boasting extremes in temperature and pressure. On top of that, the planet’s atmosphere experiences the most powerful auroras in the Solar System.
Studying this phenomena has been one of the main goals of the <a href="https://www.universetoday.com/129605/juno-mission/">Juno probe</a>, which reached Jupiter on <a href="https://www.universetoday.com/129729/welcome-to-jupiter-juno-achieves-orbit-around-the-king-of-the-planets/">July 5th, 2016</a>. However, after analyzing data collected by the probe’s instruments, scientists at <a href="http://www.jhuapl.edu/">Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory</a> (JHUAPL) were surprised to find that Jupiter’s powerful magnetic storms do not have the same source as they do on Earth.
The study which details these findings, “<a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v549/n7670/full/nature23648.html?foxtrotcallback=true">Discrete and Broadband Electron Acceleration in Jupiter’s Powerful Aurora</a>“, recently appeared in the scientific journal Nature. Led by Barry Mauk, a scientist with the JHUAPL, the team analyzed data collected by Juno’s Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) and Jovian Energetic Particle Detector Instrument (JEDI) to study Jupiter’s polar regions.
<figure id="attachment_100604" style="width: 534px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-100604" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/09/20170906b_image3_lg.jpg" alt="" width="534" height="487" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Ultraviolet auroral images of Jupiter from the Juno Ultraviolet Spectrograph instrument. Image Source: NASA/SwRI/Randy Gladstone</figcaption></figure>
As with Earth, on Jupiter, auroras are the result of intense radiation and Jupiter’s magnetic field. When this magnetosphere aligns with charged particles, it has the effect of accelerating electrons towards the atmosphere at high energy levels. In the course of examining Juno’s data, the JHUAPL team observed signatures of electrons being accelerated toward the Jovian atmosphere at energy levels of up to 400,000 electron volts.
This is roughly 10 to 30 times higher than what is experienced here on Earth, where only several thousand volts are typically needed to generate the most intense aurora. Given that Jupiter has the most powerful auroras in the Solar System, the team was not surprised to see such powerful forces at work within the planet’s atmosphere. What was surprising, however, was that this was not the source of the most intense auroras.
As Dr. Mauk, who leads the investigation team for the APL-built JEDI instrument and was the lead author on the study , explained in a JHUAPL <a href="http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2017/170906b.asp">press release</a>:
<blockquote>“At Jupiter, the brightest auroras are caused by some kind of turbulent acceleration process that we do not understand very well. There are hints in our latest data indicating that as the power density of the auroral generation becomes stronger and stronger, the process becomes unstable and a new acceleration process takes over. But we’ll have to keep looking at the data.”</blockquote>
<figure id="attachment_100605" style="width: 580px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-100605" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/09/20170906b_image2_lg-580x435.jpg" alt="" width="580" height="435" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image compiled using data from Juno’s Ultraviolet Spectrograph, which marks the path of Juno’s readings of Jupiter’s auroras. Image Source: NASA/SwRI/Randy Gladstone</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Studying Jupiter</h2>
These findings could have significant implications for the study of Jupiter, who’s composition and atmospheric dynamics continue to be a source of mystery. It also has implications or the study of extra-solar gas giants and planetary systems. In recent decades, the study of these systems has revealed hundreds of gas giants that have ranged in size from being Neptune-like to many times the size of Jupiter (aka. “Super-Jupiters”).
These gas giants have also shown significant variations in orbit, ranging from being very close to their respective suns to very far (i.e. “Hot Jupiters” to “Cold Gas Giants”). By studying Jupiter’s ability to accelerate charged particles, astronomers will be able to make more educated guesses about space weather, radiation environments, and the risks they pose to space missions.
This will come in handy when it comes time to mount future missions to Jupiter, as well as deep-space and maybe even interstellar space. As Mauk explained:
<blockquote>“The highest energies that we are observing within Jupiter’s auroral regions are formidable. These energetic particles that create the auroras are part of the story in understanding Jupiter’s radiation belts, which pose such a challenge to Juno and to upcoming spacecraft missions to Jupiter under development. Engineering around the debilitating effects of radiation has always been a challenge to spacecraft engineers for missions at Earth and elsewhere in the solar system. What we learn here, and from spacecraft like NASA’s <a href="http://vanallenprobes.jhuapl.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Van Allen Probes</a> and <a href="https://mms.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MMS</a> that are exploring Earth’s magnetosphere, will teach us a lot about space weather and protecting spacecraft and astronauts in harsh space environments. Comparing the processes at Jupiter and Earth is incredibly valuable in testing our ideas of how planetary physics works.”</blockquote>
Before the Juno mission is scheduled to wrap up (in February of 2018), the probe is likely to reveal a great many things about the planet’s composition, gravity field, magnetic field and polar magnetosphere. In so doing, it will address long-standing mysteries about how the planet formed and evolved, which will also shed light on the history of the Solar System and extra-solar systems.

The probe is likely to reveal a great many things about the planet.

Juno missions make mysterious finds about auroras on Jupiter

The team analyzed data collected by Juno’s Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) and Jovian Energetic Particle Detector Instrument (JEDI) to study Jupiter’s polar regions.

Juno Missions Make Mysterious Finds About Auroras on Jupiter

Jupiter’s powerful magnetic storms do not have the same source as they do on Earth.

<h2>Juno&#8217;s Revelations</h2>
NASA&#8217;s Juno spacecraft has just revealed a wealth of new information about our Solar System&#8217;s biggest resident, Jupiter, and it&#8217;s now clear that everything we thought we knew about the gas giant <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-s-juno-spacecraft-just-shattered-what-we-knew-about-jupiter" target="_blank">may have been wrong</a>. The first observations were made when the spacecraft dipped closer to the tops of the clouds covering the planets&#8217; surface and passed over the poles.
“What we&#8217;ve learned so far is Earth-shattering. Or should I say, Jupiter-shattering,” Juno&#8217;s principal investigator at the South Research Institute, Scott Bolton, <a href="http://www.swri.org/press-release/swri-led-juno-mission-jupiter-delivers-first-science-results" target="_blank">said in a press release</a>. “Discoveries about its composition, magnetosphere, and poles are as stunning as the photographs the mission is generating.”
At the planets&#8217; poles, there are massive, oval-shaped cyclones, completely different from the polar regions observed on Saturn. Some of these cyclones were observed to be so enormous that they approached widths of 1,400 kilometers (900 miles), making them 10 times larger than the most massive cyclones seen on Earth. These storms also soar so high that they were observed leaving Jupiter&#8217;s atmosphere, extending almost 100 kilometers (62 miles) high.
<figure style="width: 798px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/05/Jupiter-1200x1540.jpg" alt="Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Betsy Asher Hall/Gervasio Robles" width="798" height="380" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Betsy Asher Hall/Gervasio Robles</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Strange Surprises</h2>
The entire gaseous planet is enveloped by a powerful magnetic field, and solar winds cause the magnetosphere itself to expand and contract. Passing through the field, the spacecraft detected odd sounds. Jupiter is also home to strange northern lights totally different from those here on Earth.
Perhaps the strangest surprise was revealed beneath the planets&#8217; clouds, where Juno measured the atmospheres&#8217; thermal structure. The probe sent microwaves into the deep atmosphere and detected gigantic weather systems created by ammonia plumes emanating from the equator—a wider version of Earth&#8217;s own trade winds.
Juno explored the Jovian magnetic field — the Solar System&#8217;s largest object — in the second study. Although researchers knew the field was massive, they were surprised to learn that it is actually twice as powerful as predicted with previous models, 10 times more powerful than Earth&#8217;s, and far more uneven and dynamic than before believed. And, while Earth&#8217;s magnetic field originates from its core, Jupiter&#8217;s varied, patchy magnetosphere may originate closer to its surface.
<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BWOSGI1WrNA" width="560"></iframe>
<h2>Our Mysterious Universe</h2>
The real purpose of the Juno mission has been to learn more about how the planets in our Solar System formed. This, in turn, can allow us to better understand how all planets form, and better comprehend the nature of the Universe. The craft is doing this by mapping the gas giant in detail and gathering data on the atmosphere, magnetic field, and inner structure of the massive planet.
Earth and Jupiter&#8217;s different magnetospheres produce vastly different bow shock experiences as spacecraft pass through the magnetic fields. In fact, while passing through Earth&#8217;s magnetic field is a uniform experience, passing through Jupiter&#8217;s changes, depends on whether the magnetosphere is expanding or contracting in response to solar winds. Differences in the auroral emissions of the two planets are also striking.
Jupiter has more to tell us, and Juno is on the case. It has thus far completed only 5 of 33 planned flyby investigations, so we can expect more strange revelations. Next up, on July 11, Juno will pass over the Great Red Spot, and hopefully tell us more about the most famous storm in the Solar System — and perhaps about our Universe&#8217;s origins as well.

Juno has revealed data from its first 5 flybys of Jupiter, and scientists are surprised that much of what we believed about the planet was wrong.

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