Jupiter Exploration
While Jupiter has been known since ancient times, the first detailed observations of this planet were made by Galileo Galilei in 1610 with a small, homemade telescope. More recently, this planet has been visited by orbiters, probes, and by spacecraft passing by on their way to other worlds.
NASA's Pioneer 10 and 11, and Voyager 1 and 2 were the first to fly by Jupiter in the 1970s. Later, the Galileo spacecraft orbited the gas giant for almost eight years, and dropped a probe into its atmosphere. Cassini took detailed photos of Jupiter on its way to neighboring Saturn, as did New Horizons on its journey to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. NASA’s Juno spacecraft has been studying Jupiter from orbit since July 2016. Europa Clipper will launch in October 2024 to study Jupiter's icy moon, Europa.
In orbit
Juno
Past missions
8
missions en route
ESA's Juice Spacecraft
Future Missions
Europa Clipper
Missions to Jupiter
Pioneer 10
NASA's first spacecraft to visit the outer planets, Pioneer 10 was designed as a 21-month mission to Jupiter, yet lasted more than 30 years. After its Jupiter encounter in 1973, it continued beyond the solar system, sending its last signal to Earth in January 2003 from a distance of 7.6 billion miles.
Pioneer 11
The sister spacecraft to Pioneer 10, it flew even closer to Jupiter in 1974 than its sibling had, passing while en route to its destination, Saturn. After studying the ringed planet, Pioneer 11 exited the solar system, and like its sibling carries a plaque with a message for any intelligent beings that may encounter it.
Voyager 1
As it flew by Jupiter in March 1979, Voyager 1 discovered a thin ring around the planet, two new moons, and active volcanoes on the volatile moon Io, before continuing on to Saturn and interstellar space.
Voyager 2
Voyager 2 began transmitting images of Jupiter April 24, 1979, for time-lapse movies of atmospheric circulation. Unlike Voyager 1, Voyager 2 made close passes to the Jovian moons on its way into the system, with scientists especially interested in more information from Europa and Io.
Galileo
During Galileo's 34 orbits of Jupiter, it gathered unprecedented data on the planet's atmosphere, magnetosphere, and evolution. It observed a comet crash into the planet, and also deployed a probe – the first spacecraft to enter Jupiter's atmosphere. And while studying Jupiter's moons, Galileo discovered evidence of a subsurface ocean on Europa, Ganymede's unique magnetic field, and unparalleled volcanic activity on Io.
Juno
Juno has been In orbit around Jupiter since 2016. It's probing beneath the planet's dense clouds to answer questions about its origin and evolution, and is scheduled to continue investigating the solar system’s largest planet, its moons, faint rings, and surrounding environment through September 2025.
Europa Clipper
NASA's Europa Clipper is scheduled to launch in October 2024 and reach the planet in 2030. During dozens of flybys, the spacecraft will investigate Jupiter's icy moon Europa to determine whether there are places below the surface that could support life.
