Rosetta, New Horizons Gather Data On Sol's Largest Planet

They're in the area anyway... so they both might as well join forces and see what they can find. That's the thinking behind efforts now udnerway by NASA and the European Space Agency to employ two spacecraft to observe Jupiter.

As Aero-News reported, NASA's Pluto-bound New Horizons probe sped past the solar system's largest planet last week. Meanwhile, the ESA's Rosetta spacecraft is nearing Mars, on its way to a 2014 encounter with comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Those vantage points allow both probes to take unique readings of Jupiter.

"This is an excellent opportunity to test both spacecraft and to collect valuable science data," said Rosetta mission manager Gerhard Schwehm to United Press International. Those sentiments were echoed by New Horizons' manager Alan Stern, who added "we couldn't pass up this opportunity to study Jupiter`s meteorology, rings, aurorae, satellites, and magnetosphere."

It was Stern who proposed the tag-team effort, as he is also the principal scientist for the ALICE instrument onboard the Rosetta probe. The ultraviolet imaging spectrometer is designed to analyze gases from the comet -- but studying Jupiter allows scientists to give the sensor a trial run before then.

While New Horizons continues to speed farther away from Jupiter, Rosetta will be able to study the planet for the next two months.

FMI: www.nasa.gov, www.esa.int