Roscosmos, Russia's state space corporation, is developing an ambitious mission to explore Jupiter. The nuclear-powered spacecraft will undertake a 50-month journey, featuring two strategic pit stops along the way.
NASA holds the record for Jupiter exploration, starting with Pioneer 10's flyby in 1973. While over a dozen missions have swung by the gas giant for gravitational assists en route to other targets, only Galileo and the extended Juno mission have lingered for in-depth study.
The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), set for launch in 2022, marks the first non-NASA mission to the outer solar system. JUICE will conduct multiple flybys of Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede before orbiting Ganymede from 2032 for detailed observations.
NASA is also targeting Europa, home to a subsurface global ocean potentially harboring life. The Europa Clipper mission, slated for a 2024 launch on a commercial rocket, aims to arrive by 2029 or 2030 to investigate.
Russia is entering the fray with Roscosmos announcing its own Jupiter exploration plans. The probe's four-year-plus voyage includes an initial stop at Earth's Moon to deploy an orbiter, followed by a Venus flyby for gravity assist—deploying a local probe there too—before heading to Jupiter.
Most deep-space probes use solar panels, but sunlight fades far from the Sun. For this mission, Russia plans a full 500-kilowatt nuclear reactor named Zeus, powered by fission reactions to generate electricity for propulsion and systems.
Unlike RTGs on missions like Cassini and Voyager—which harness heat from decaying isotopes without chain reactions—Zeus represents a true fission reactor breakthrough.
