time travel to jupiter

Universe Today

Space and astronomy news

How Long Does It Take to Get to Jupiter?

We’re always talking about Pluto, or Saturn or Mars. But nobody ever seems to talk about Jupiter any more. Why is that? I mean, it’s the largest planet in the Solar System. 318 times the mass of the Earth has got to count for something, right? Right?

Jupiter is one of the most important places in the Solar System. The planet itself is impressive; with ancient cyclonic storms larger than the Earth, or a magnetosphere so powerful it defies comprehension.

One of the most compelling reasons to visit Jupiter is because of its moons. Europa, Callisto and Ganymede might all contain vast oceans of liquid water underneath icy shells. And as you probably know, wherever we find liquid water on Earth, we find life.

And so, the icy moons of Jupiter are probably the best place to look for life in the entire Solar System.

And yet, as I record this video in early 2016, there are no spacecraft at Jupiter or its moons. In fact, there haven’t been any there for years. The last spacecraft to visit Jupiter was NASA’s New Horizons in 2007. Mars is buzzing with orbiters and rovers, we just got close up pictures of Pluto! and yet we haven’t seen Jupiter close up in almost 10 years. What’s going on?

Part of the problem is that Jupiter is really far away, and it takes a long time to get there.

How long? Let’s take a look at all the spacecraft that have ever made this journey.

The first spacecraft to ever cross the gulf from the Earth to Jupiter was NASA’s Pioneer 10. It launched on March 3, 1972 and reached on December 3, 1973. That’s a total of 640 days of flight time.

But Pioneer 10 was just flying by, on its way to explore the outer Solar System. It came within 130,000 km of the planet, took the first close up pictures ever taken of Jupiter, and then continued on into deep space for another 11 years before NASA lost contact.

Pioneer 11 took off a year later, and arrived a year later. It made the journey in 606 days, making a much closer flyby, getting within 21,000 kilometers of Jupiter, and visiting Saturn too.

Next came the Voyager spacecraft. Voyager 1 took only 546 days, arriving on March 5, 1979, and Voyager 2 took 688 days.

So, if you’re going to do a flyby, you’ll need about 550-650 days to make the journey.

But if you actually want to slow down and go into orbit around Jupiter, you’ll need to take a much slower journey. The only spacecraft to ever stick around Jupiter was NASA’s Galileo spacecraft, which launched on October 18, 1989.

Instead of taking the direct path to Jupiter, it made two gravitational assisting flybys of Earth and one of Venus to pick up speed, finally arriving at Jupiter on December 8, 1995. That’s a total of 2,242 days.

So why did Galileo take so much longer to get to Jupiter? It’s because you need to be going slow enough that when you reach Jupiter, you can actually enter orbit around the planet, and not just speed on past.

And now, after this long period of Jupiterlessness, we’re about to have another spacecraft arrive at the massive planet and go into orbit. NASA’s Juno spacecraft was launched back on August 5, 2011 and it’s been buzzing around the inner Solar System, building up the velocity to make the journey to Jupiter.

It did a flyby of Earth back in 2013, and if everything goes well, Juno will make its orbital insertion into the Jovian system on July 4, 2016. Total flight time: 1,795 days.

Once again, we’ll have a spacecraft observing Jupiter and its moon.s

This is just the beginning. There are several more missions to Jupiter in the works. The European Space Agency will be launching the Jupiter Icy Moons Mission in 2022, which will take nearly 8 years to reach Jupiter by 2030.

NASA’s Europa Multiple-Flyby Mission [Editor’s note: formerly known as the Europa Clipper] will probably launch in the same timeframe, and spend its time orbiting Europa, trying to get a better understand the environment on Europa. It probably won’t be able to detect any life down there, beneath the ice, but it’ll figure out exactly where the ocean starts.

So, how long does it take to get to Jupiter? Around 600 days if you want to just do a flyby and aren’t planning to stick around, or about 2,000 days if you want to actually get into orbit.

Share this:

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

One Reply to “How Long Does It Take to Get to Jupiter?”

“So why did Galileo take so much longer to get to Jupiter? It’s because you need to be going slow enough that when you reach Jupiter, you can actually enter orbit around the planet, and not just speed on past.”

No. Galileo and Juno had to take the slow gravitational assist route because the launcher didn’t have enough oomph to send them directly to Jupiter. (Galileo was actually released from Space Shuttle Atlantis and an Inertial Upper Stage sent it to interplanetary space.)

Galileo actually took exactly three years (about 1100 days) to reach Jupiter after the last gravitational assist. That’s the true travel time to Jupiter.

If you had a rocket powerful enough you could send a spacecraft directly to Jupiter and save many years of travel time. With a really powerful rocket you could leave even faster and still have a lot of delta-V (=propellant for orbit insertion) available in your spacecraft. The journey would be even quicker.

Comments are closed.

share this!

April 7, 2016

How long does it take to get to Jupiter?

by Fraser Cain, Universe Today

We're always talking about Pluto, or Saturn or Mars. But nobody ever seems to talk about Jupiter any more. Why is that? I mean, it's the largest planet in the solar system. 318 times the mass of the Earth has got to count for something, right? Right?

Jupiter is one of the most important places in the solar system . The planet itself is impressive; with ancient cyclonic storms larger than the Earth, or a magnetosphere so powerful it defies comprehension.

One of the most compelling reasons to visit Jupiter is because of its moons. Europa, Callisto and Ganymede might all contain vast oceans of liquid water underneath icy shells. And as you probably know, wherever we find liquid water on Earth, we find life.

And so, the icy moons of Jupiter are probably the best place to look for life in the entire solar system.

And yet, as I record this video in early 2016, there are no spacecraft at Jupiter or its moons. In fact, there haven't been any there for years. The last spacecraft to visit Jupiter was NASA's New Horizons in 2007. Mars is buzzing with orbiters and rovers, we just got close up pictures of Pluto! and yet we haven't seen Jupiter close up in almost 10 years. What's going on?

Part of the problem is that Jupiter is really far away, and it takes a long time to get there.

How long? Let's take a look at all the spacecraft that have ever made this journey.

The first spacecraft to ever cross the gulf from the Earth to Jupiter was NASA's Pioneer 10. It launched on March 3, 1972 and reached on December 3, 1973. That's a total of 640 days of flight time.

But Pioneer 10 was just flying by, on its way to explore the outer solar system. It came within 130,000 km of the planet, took the first close up pictures ever taken of Jupiter, and then continued on into deep space for another 11 years before NASA lost contact.

Pioneer 11 took off a year later, and arrived a year later. It made the journey in 606 days, making a much closer flyby, getting within 21,000 kilometers of Jupiter, and visiting Saturn too.

Next came the Voyager spacecraft. Voyager 1 took only 546 days, arriving on March 5, 1979, and Voyager 2 took 688 days.

So, if you're going to do a flyby, you'll need about 550-650 days to make the journey.

But if you actually want to slow down and go into orbit around Jupiter, you'll need to take a much slower journey. The only spacecraft to ever stick around Jupiter was NASA's Galileo spacecraft, which launched on October 18, 1989.

Instead of taking the direct path to Jupiter, it made two gravitational assisting flybys of Earth and one of Venus to pick up speed, finally arriving at Jupiter on December 8, 1995. That's a total of 2,242 days.

So why did Galileo take so much longer to get to Jupiter? It's because you need to be going slow enough that when you reach Jupiter, you can actually enter orbit around the planet, and not just speed on past.

And now, after this long period of Jupiterlessness, we're about to have another spacecraft arrive at the massive planet and go into orbit. NASA's Juno spacecraft was launched back on August 5, 2011 and it's been buzzing around the inner solar system, building up the velocity to make the journey to Jupiter.

It did a flyby of Earth back in 2013, and if everything goes well, Juno will make its orbital insertion into the Jovian system on July 4, 2016. Total flight time: 1,795 days.

Once again, we'll have a spacecraft observing Jupiter and its moons.

This is just the beginning. There are several more missions to Jupiter in the works. The European Space Agency will be launching the Jupiter Icy Moons Mission in 2022, which will take nearly 8 years to reach Jupiter by 2030.

NASA's Europa Multiple-Flyby Mission [Editor's note: formerly known as the Europa Clipper] will probably launch in the same timeframe, and spend its time orbiting Europa, trying to get a better understand the environment on Europa. It probably won't be able to detect any life down there, beneath the ice, but it'll figure out exactly where the ocean starts.

So, how long does it take to get to Jupiter? Around 600 days if you want to just do a flyby and aren't planning to stick around, or about 2,000 days if you want to actually get into orbit.

Source: Universe Today

Explore further

Feedback to editors

Optical barcodes expand range of high-resolution sensor

7 hours ago

Ridesourcing platforms thrive on socio-economic inequality, say researchers

Did Vesuvius bury the home of the first Roman emperor?

Florida dolphin found with highly pathogenic avian flu: Report

8 hours ago

A new way to study and help prevent landslides

New algorithm cuts through 'noisy' data to better predict tipping points

Researchers reconstruct landscapes that greeted the first humans in Australia around 65,000 years ago

High-precision blood glucose level prediction achieved by few-molecule reservoir computing

9 hours ago

Enhancing memory technology: Multiferroic nanodots for low-power magnetic storage

Researchers advance detection of gravitational waves to study collisions of neutron stars and black holes

Relevant physicsforums posts, our beautiful universe - photos and videos.

23 hours ago

Solar Activity and Space Weather Update thread

Apr 25, 2024

'Devil' comet visible tonight 21.04.24

Waves in space, documenting the setup of my new telescope.

Apr 24, 2024

What did I capture?

Apr 23, 2024

More from Astronomy and Astrophysics

Related Stories

Jupiter returns as king of the night sky

Mar 8, 2016

NASA's Juno spacecraft burns for Jupiter

Feb 4, 2016

Image: Pioneer 10's groundbreaking approach to Jupiter

Dec 5, 2013

Image: Jupiter's cratered moon, Callisto

Jan 26, 2015

NASA troubleshooting Jupiter-bound spacecraft

Oct 10, 2013

Juno spacecraft breaks solar power distance record

Jan 14, 2016

Recommended for you

Japan's moon lander wasn't built to survive a weekslong lunar night. It's still going after 3

NASA's Voyager 1 resumes sending engineering updates to Earth

Apr 22, 2024

Simulated microgravity affects sleep and physiological rhythms, study finds

'Tube map' around planets and moons made possible by knot theory

Apr 17, 2024

NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter team says goodbye—for now

NASA confirms mystery object that crashed through roof of Florida home came from space station

Apr 16, 2024

Let us know if there is a problem with our content

Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form . For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines ).

Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request

Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors.

Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.

E-mail the story

Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form.

Newsletter sign up

Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties.

More information Privacy policy

Donate and enjoy an ad-free experience

We keep our content available to everyone. Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account.

E-mail newsletter

learn2astronomy

How Long Does It Take To Get To Jupiter

Welcome to Learn to Astronomy ! In this article, we will explore the fascinating journey to Jupiter and answer the burning question: how long does it take to reach this giant planet ? Prepare for an interplanetary adventure as we delve into the distance , speed, and various factors that influence this incredible voyage. Let’s embark on this celestial odyssey together!

Table of Contents

Journey to Jupiter: Understanding the Time it Takes to Reach the Giant Gas Planet

Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system , has fascinated astronomers for centuries. Its massive size , unique atmosphere , and mysterious storms make it a subject of great interest in the field of astronomy. However, one question that often arises is how long it would take to reach Jupiter.

Reaching Jupiter is no easy feat. Its distance from Earth varies depending on their relative positions in their orbits around the Sun . On average, Jupiter lies about 484 million miles away from Earth. This vast distance presents numerous challenges for spacecraft missions, requiring immense planning and careful calculations.

The time it takes to reach Jupiter depends primarily on the technology used for space travel and the trajectory followed. Historically, spacecraft have taken several years to reach the gas giant . For example, NASA’s Galileo mission, launched in 1989, took almost six years to reach Jupiter. This spacecraft utilized gravity-assist flybys of Venus and Earth to gain speed and adjust its trajectory towards the gas giant.

The fastest journey to Jupiter was completed by NASA’s Juno spacecraft. Launched in 2011, Juno used a gravity-assist flyby of Earth and achieved a record-breaking speed of 165,000 mph (265,000 km/h). Even with this incredible velocity , it still took Juno almost five years to reach Jupiter.

The time it takes to reach Jupiter is also influenced by the alignment of the planets . During specific alignments, known as launch windows, the distance between Earth and Jupiter is minimized, reducing the travel time. These launch windows occur approximately every 13 months, allowing for more efficient missions. However, even during these optimal alignment scenarios, the journey still takes several years.

In conclusion, reaching Jupiter is a formidable challenge requiring careful planning, advanced technology, and a considerable amount of time. While spacecraft have taken several years to reach this giant gas planet, advancements in space travel continue to push the boundaries of exploration , offering hope for more efficient and faster journeys to distant celestial bodies like Jupiter.

What Would You See If You Fell Into Saturn? (4K UHD)

Scientists reveal that our universe is 27 billion years old, not 13.8 billion here’s how, frequent questions, how long does it take for a spacecraft to reach jupiter.

The time it takes for a spacecraft to reach Jupiter varies depending on several factors. The most crucial factor is the trajectory and speed of the spacecraft.

On average, it takes a spacecraft about 2-3 years to reach Jupiter. This estimate includes the time required to launch the spacecraft into space, perform gravity assist maneuvers, and travel towards the planet.

The specific duration can be shorter or longer depending on the launch window, available propulsion technology, and the mission’s goals. For example, the Juno spacecraft, launched in 2011, took approximately 5 years to reach Jupiter due to its trajectory and gravity assists from Earth and other celestial bodies.

Future missions might utilize advanced propulsion systems, such as ion engines or nuclear propulsion, which could significantly reduce travel times to Jupiter. These technologies are being researched and developed to improve future interplanetary missions.

What is the average travel time to reach Jupiter using current space exploration technology?

The average travel time to reach Jupiter using current space exploration technology can vary depending on the specific mission and the trajectory chosen. On average, it would take approximately 2 to 3 years to reach Jupiter using current propulsion systems.

One of the main factors influencing travel time is the alignment of Earth and Jupiter in their respective orbits. To optimize fuel efficiency, spacecraft often utilize gravity assist maneuvers from other planets, which can significantly reduce travel time.

For example, NASA’s Juno spacecraft, launched in 2011, took advantage of a gravity assist from Earth and completed its journey to Jupiter in 5 years . The European Space Agency’s JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) mission, planned for launch in 2022 , will utilize gravity assists from Earth, Venus, and Mars to reach Jupiter in 7 years .

It’s important to note that future advancements in technology and propulsion systems, such as ion propulsion or nuclear propulsion, could potentially reduce travel times to Jupiter even further. However, these technologies are still in development and have not been utilized for interplanetary missions at a large scale yet.

Can the time it takes to reach Jupiter be shortened in the future through advancements in propulsion systems?

Yes, it is possible that the time it takes to reach Jupiter can be shortened in the future through advancements in propulsion systems. Currently, the time it takes to reach Jupiter depends on the type of mission and the propulsion technology used. For example, the Voyager 1 spacecraft took approximately 2.5 years to reach Jupiter after its launch in 1977.

Advancements in propulsion systems, such as increased efficiency and faster speeds, could potentially reduce the travel time to Jupiter. One such technology being explored is ion propulsion, which uses electrically charged particles to generate thrust. Ion engines are more fuel-efficient and can achieve higher velocities compared to traditional chemical rockets. This could significantly decrease travel times to Jupiter and other destinations in the solar system .

Additionally, there are ongoing research and development efforts focused on advanced propulsion concepts like nuclear propulsion, solar sails, and even concepts like warp drives. While these technologies are still in their early stages of development, they hold the potential for faster interplanetary travel.

It’s worth noting that the distances between planets can vary depending on their relative positions in their orbits around the Sun . At certain times, when Earth and Jupiter are closer together in their respective orbits, it would naturally take less time to reach Jupiter even with existing propulsion systems. However, advancements in propulsion technology could further shorten these travel times regardless of the planetary alignment.

In conclusion, while the current travel time to Jupiter depends on various factors, advancements in propulsion systems have the potential to significantly shorten the time it takes to reach Jupiter in the future.

In conclusion, the journey to Jupiter is an extraordinary feat in human exploration. With its immense distance from Earth, reaching this giant planet requires significant planning and patience. Astronauts or spacecrafts embarking on this adventure must endure a journey lasting several years . The use of gravity assists and precise calculations are crucial in order to maximize efficiency and reduce travel time. While the specifics may vary depending on the trajectory, the average time to reach Jupiter is typically around 2-3 years . This duration reflects the remarkable distances involved and highlights the incredible advancements in space travel technology. As we continue to push the boundaries of exploration, venturing further into our solar system and beyond, the journey to Jupiter serves as a reminder of our capability and curiosity to uncover the mysteries of the cosmos.

Related posts:

Leave a comment cancel reply.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

The Planets

How long would it take to get to Jupiter?

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun. It sits between Mars and Saturn . Though you might want to find out how long it would take to reach this planet, you should also think about what would happen when you got there. As Jupiter consists of gas, we cannot land on the planet’s surface because there isn’t anything that could support a craft. NASA astronomers found that it takes an average of six years to reach Jupiter from Earth. In this article, we’ll look at Jupiter and why it takes so long to reach the plant as well as how long other trips would take.

How far is Earth from Jupiter?

Jupiter is one of the few planets that you can see on a normal day. The high concentration of gases on the planet makes it burn bright and creates colors that we can easily see through the light spectrum. Both Earth and Jupiter move in an elliptical direction, which changes how close they are. At certain points in time, the planets are 365 miles apart. The two planets can be more than 600 million miles apart at other points, which can affect the time it would take to travel between them.

How Long Would it Take to Get to Jupiter?

The distance between Earth and Jupiter depends on the orbits of each planet but can reach more than 600 million miles. Depending on what the missions do and where they go, it can take around two years to six years to reach Jupiter.

One of the space probes used by NASA was Galileo. It launched in October of 1989 and spent a little more than six years traveling through space before landing on Jupiter in December of 1995. One reason it took so long for the probe to reach Jupiter is that it followed the orbital paths of both Earth and Venus, which added more than two billion miles to its journey.

Voyager and Other Trips

Voyager I was one of the missions launched by NASA to track the distance between Earth and other planets. It left Earth in September of 1977 and reached Jupiter in March of 1979, which is just under two years. This mission proved that Jupiter was closer to the Earth than initially expected, especially when astronauts followed a direct path. New Horizons was a mission that traveled from Earth to dwarf planets such as Pluto. It left Earth in January of 2006 and reached Jupiter in February of 2007 before traveling deeper into the solar system. Other countries also launched missions that reached Jupiter in around two years or less.

What is the Shortest Trip?

The shortest trip to any object in space is the trip to the moon, which takes an average of three days. If you want to reach Mars, it would take around seven months. When the cycles of Mars and Earth are in alignment, the trip takes well under a year. If those cycles are not in sync, the trip could take nine months or longer. Another short trip would be the one between Earth and Venus, which takes 15 months because the planet is more than 20 billion miles away.

Longer Trips

Traveling to other planets would take even longer. NASA launched Cassini in 1997 but found that it didn’t land on Saturn until 2004, seven years later. One of the landers onboard traveled to one of the planet’s moons and sent back information that NASA still uses today. The distance between Earth and Uranus would take this trip more than eight years long. When NASA launched the Voyager, it took a little longer to reach Uranus but still made it there within a decade. This same craft helped NASA determine that it would take 12 years to reach Neptune.

No Life on Jupiter

Jupiter is one of the planets that cannot sustain any type of life because of its gaseous design. When the planet was formed, it absorbed gas and debris that created its shape and design. Many planets that cannot sustain human life long term have rocky surfaces that probes and shuttles can land on. As Jupiter only consists of gas, it’s impossible to land on the planet. NASA and other space organizations can only orbit around the planet and collect data.

Link/cite this page

If you use any of the content on this page in your own work, please use the code below to cite this page as the source of the content.

<a href="https://theplanets.org/how-long-would-it-take-to-get-to-jupiter/">How long would it take to get to Jupiter?</a>

Stewart, Suzy. "How long would it take to get to Jupiter?". The Planets . Accessed on April 27, 2024. https://theplanets.org/how-long-would-it-take-to-get-to-jupiter/.

Stewart, Suzy. "How long would it take to get to Jupiter?". The Planets , https://theplanets.org/how-long-would-it-take-to-get-to-jupiter/. Accessed 27 April, 2024.

Jupiter: The Massive Planet

By Graham Jones

Jupiter is two-and-a-half times more massive than all the other planets in the solar system put together.

Jupiter poses with its Great Red Spot, and its icy moon Europa.

©NASA, ESA, STScI, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley), and the OPAL team

Jupiter and Moon Close Approach 2024

A Brief Overview of Jupiter

The fifth planet from the Sun , Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system . It has about 318 times the mass of Earth , and around 1320 times the volume. Jupiter is made mostly of hydrogen and helium, similar to the Sun, and is known as a gas giant .

Compare the sizes and order of the planets

The planet is covered in colorful swirling clouds of ammonia, water, and other chemicals. A prominent feature is the Great Red Spot, a storm that is bigger than Earth and hundreds of years old.

Where Is Jupiter in the Sky?

Find and track Jupiter with our Interactive Night Sky Map

Check the weather in your town or city

When Is the Best Time to See Jupiter?

After the Sun, the Moon , and Venus , Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the sky—although, occasionally, Mars can outshine it. When Jupiter is at opposition , it lies directly opposite the Sun in our sky and is visible all night. At solar conjunction , the planet passes behind the Sun and cannot be seen from Earth for a few weeks. Jupiter reaches opposition every 399 days or so (about 13 months).

Jupiter can easily be enjoyed with the naked eye. A reasonably good pair of binoculars will reveal the planet’s four large moons discovered by Galileo in 1610.

Next solar conjunction: May 18, 2024

Next opposition: December 7, 2024

Previous opposition: November 3, 2023

Previous solar conjunction: April 11, 2023

How far is Jupiter from Earth right now?

Through binoculars or a small telescope, Jupiter’s Galilean moons appear as four tiny points of light. They can be seen shifting their positions over the course of a night.

©iStockphoto.com/Allexxandar

How Long Is a Day and a Year?

Jupiter is the solar system’s fastest spinner and has the shortest solar day . The giant planet rotates on its axis about once every ten hours.

Its tropical year is about 4331 Earth days, which is a little under 12 Earth years.

How Many Moons Does Jupiter Have?

The massive planet has around 100 known natural satellites.

The four moons discovered by Galileo are called the Galilean moons. From largest to smallest, they are Ganymede (about one-and-a-half times the size of Earth’s Moon), Callisto, Io, and Europa (slightly smaller than Earth’s Moon).

The next-largest moon of Jupiter, Amalthea, is irregularly shaped and only a fraction of the size (about one-nineteenth) of Europa.

In addition to its moons, Jupiter has a ring system. Whereas Saturn ’s rings are made of shiny ice particles, Jupiter’s are made of faint dust.

Io is the most geologically active body in the solar system . The New Horizons spacecraft took this close-up of lava spilling onto the moon’s surface in March 2007.

©NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Human Exploration of Jupiter

Jupiter played an important role in the scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries. According to the old Aristotelian model of the universe, everything circled the Earth. The discovery of the Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter proved that something was wrong with Aristotle’s model.

The first spacecraft to visit Jupiter was Pioneer 10, which made its closest approach on December 4, 1973.

On December 7, 1995, the Galileo spacecraft became the first to go into orbit around Jupiter. Before its fuel was completely used up, Galileo was deliberately crashed into the planet on September 21, 2003. This was done to prevent any possibility of a contamination-causing collision with one of Jupiter’s moons, which could potentially be home to some form of extraterrestrial life.

How Long Does It Take to Get to Jupiter?

As with all space travel, the journey time to Jupiter depends partly on how much fuel is used. Pioneer 10 made the trip in 21 months. New Horizons—the fastest spacecraft ever to leave Earth’s atmosphere—took just 13 months to reach Jupiter on its way to Pluto.

Galileo, on the other hand, did not have enough fuel to fly directly to Jupiter. So it made one flyby of Venus, and two flybys of Earth on its way. These gravity assist maneuvers enabled the spacecraft to gain speed.

How do gravity assists work?

• Launched: March 3, 1972
• Arrived: December 4, 1973 (flyby, closest approach)
• Journey time: 1 year, 9 months, and 1 day
• Launched: October 18, 1989 (aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis)
• Arrived: December 8, 1995 (entered orbit)
• Journey time: 6 years, 1 month, and 20 days

New Horizons

• Launched: January 19, 2006
• Arrived: February 28, 2007 (flyby, closest approach)
• Journey time: 1 year, 1 month, and 9 days

All dates are shown in UTC .

Topics: Astronomy , Planets

The Nine Planets

How Far is Jupiter From Earth?

All the planets from our Solar System are millions of miles / kilometers away from the Sun. When it comes to Jupiter, it is 5.2 AU or 778 million km / 484 million mi away from the Sun.

But how far is Jupiter from Earth? Since all the planets move around, the distane is always changing. On average, Jupiter is 715 million km / 444 million mi away from the Earth.

At their closest points, Jupiter and Earth are 588 million km / 365 million mi away from each other. At their farthest points, Jupiter and Earth are 968 million km / 601 million mi.

How Long Would it Take to Get to Jupiter From Earth?

Since all the planets move around, the time it would take to reach them varies. On average, it would take about six years to reach Jupiter from Earth.

For example, the Galileo spacecraft, which was launched in 1989, arrived at the gas giant in 1995 but happened because it had a very strategic route in mind. The spacecraft went around Venus , Earth, and the asteroid Gaspra, in order to reach Jupiter. The craft traveled around 2.5 billion miles / 4 billion kilometers in total.

How Many Light Years Does it Take to Get to Jupiter from Earth?

It wouldn’t take you even one light-year to reach Jupiter. In fact, if you were traveling at the speed of light from Earth towards Jupiter, you would reach the gas giant in around 43 light minutes.

In light-years, the Sun is 0.00001581 light-years away from Earth, and as such, it would take you eight light minutes to reach it. The speed of sound travels at around 343 m/s, while the speed of light travels at 299,792,458 m/s. In miles per hour/mph, the speed of light is at around 670,616,629, while in kilometers per hour, light travels at 1,079,252,848.

Can we Reach Jupiter?

Reaching Jupiter is very hard due to the tremendous distance of 715 million km / 444 million mi, and that’s just the average estimative. Planets move around, so the traveling length could get even at 968 million km / 601 million mi.

Up until 2020, only nine spacecraft have reached Jupiter. Reaching Jupiter is definitely possible; we’ve proved it nine times until now, but sending a manned-crew there, would be more problematic.

The first spacecraft to reach Jupiter was NASA’s Pioneer 10. This probe was launched in 1972, and it reached the gas giant in 1973. However, the mission was just a flyby, and the probe came within 130,000 km of Jupiter. It managed to capture the first images of Jupiter and then continued its journey into deep space.

ESA is planning to launch a spacecraft in 2022, and it is expected that the probe will reach Jupiter in 8 years. NASA’s Europa Multiple-Flyby Mission is also scheduled to take place in 2022.

This probe will study Jupiter’s moon Europa, and it will especially look for life signs that might be present within its water.

Which Planet is Farthest from Earth?

The farthest planet from Earth is Neptune . Neptune is located at 30 AU or 4.5 billion km / 2.8 billion mi away from the Sun. However, if you still consider Pluto a planet, and not a dwarf planet , then pluto would be the farthest planet from Earth.

Pluto is located at 39.5 AU or 5.9 billion km / 3.7 billion mi away from the Sun. If we were to launch a mission towards Neptune, our spacecraft would reach it in about twelve years. If the target is Pluto, then we would reach it in 9.5 years, but this is because  Pluto’s orbit regularly takes it closer to us than Neptune.

How Long is a Year on Jupiter?

One Jovian year is equivalent to 12 Earth years. Jupiter thus completes an orbit around the Sun once every 12 years. This is because it has an extremely large orbit trajectory to cover.

Mercury , for example, completes one trip around the Sun in just 88 days. Thus, one year on Mercury is equivalent to only 88 Earth-days. Time for a lot of birthday cakes!

Can we Land on Jupiter?

Jupiter is a great big ball of gas and dust, and thus, it doesn’t even have a true surface. If you were to somehow teleport yourself to Jupiter to stand on it, you would instantly fall to your death.

However, you wouldn’t die because of the fall, but rather, the lack of oxygen, the temperatures from the clouds, or the fast winds speeds that might tear you to shreds.

With all of this being considered, why are so many spacecraft sent towards Jupiter? Jupiter is not necessarily the target for many of the spacecraft sent there.

In fact, Jupiter’s moons are far more likely to be visited, then Jupiter itself. This is because they might have the necessary conditions to sustain life.

Take, for example, the moon known as Europa. Europa has captured our interest since it has water. This moon produces ten times more oxygen than hydrogen, making it quite similar to Earth itself.

In fact, Europa may as well have more water under its surface than all the water we have on Earth. Many missions towards Jupiter are actually planned for its moons due to these features.

Some believe that Ganymede may as well have water underneath its surface, but it remains to be seen. Many believe that life already exists on the moon Europa, and scientists want to check it for such signs thoroughly.

Now Jupiter may not help us much due to its inhospitable nature, but its moons might as well provide us with some form of relief, especially since they have water, except for Io, Io is even more hostile.

Did you know?

• Callisto has long been considered the most suitable place for a human base for future exploration of the Jovian system due to its low levels of radiation. The radiation on Europa would kill a person in just a day.
• The German astronomer Simon Marius is believed to have discovered Europa simultaneously as Galileo; however, he did not announce his discovery.
• Galileo called the moons the Medicean planets in honor of the Medici family. They were later renamed the Galilean Moons in his honor.
• Jupiter rotates once every 10 hours – A Jovian day – thus, it has the shortest day of all the planets in the solar system.
• Since Jupiter has a small axial tilt of only 3.13 degrees, it has little seasonal variations.
• It is now known if Jupiter has a core and recent analysis suggests that the atmosphere extends up to 3.000 km / 1.864 mi down, and beneath this is an ocean of metallic hydrogen going all the way down to the center.
• Universetoday

Image Sources:

• https://nineplanets.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/orbit-of-Jupiter.jpg
• https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-5a626745e477651addf7dc431d393d59
• https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KMyLpNcbQ6C5UGY6q5RuDE.jpg
• https://nineplanets.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Planets2013.svg.png
• https://mk0spaceflightnoa02a.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/juno_joi_lm.jpg

How Long Would It Take For Humans To Travel To Jupiter?

The five visible planets have been central to human mythology for thousands of years and, along with the sun and moon, may be the reason we have seven days in a week (via Time and Date ). And among the seven non-fixed bodies of the heavens, Jupiter has long been considered the king of them all. Today, Jupiter retains its status of King of the Planets due to its massive size: excluding the sun, it's twice as big as the rest of the solar system put together (from NASA ).

Because of the prominence we've placed on it, humans have been observing and studying Jupiter for over 2,000 years (per Nature ). Early in the 17th century, Galileo Galilei's discovery of moons orbiting the planet upended the worldview that all objects in the solar system orbit the earth, and helped cement Nicolaus Copernicus' ideas about heliocentrism (via The Planetary Society ).

Today, not satisfied to merely peer through our telescopes, we send probes to Jupiter to make close observations in our stead. But how long will it be before we can go there ourselves? And how long will it take us to get there when we do?

The long and winding road

If we want to know how long it's going to take to travel to Jupiter, we need to know how far away it is. Because both the Earth and Jupiter are constantly moving, the answer is always changing. The closest the two planets can possibly be is 365 million miles, with a maximum of 601 million miles (via Space.com ). Just for perspective, 601 million miles is over 24,000 times the girth of the Earth. So, if you wanted to drive the shortest possible route going 70 mph the whole way, it would take you just under 600 years to do it, or 979 years if you take the scenic route.

But let's be real. We're not driving to Jupiter, and not just because there are no gas stations along the way. If we're going to travel to another heavenly body we're going to need a spaceship of some kind. How fast do those go? The fastest humans have ever traveled is 24,800 mph on the Apollo 10 mission. If we could travel at that speed for the whole trip it would take between 613 days and 1,009 days, depending on the position of the planets.

Past precedent

But what about spacecraft that have actually been to Jupiter? In the 1970s, four separate probes were sent: Pioneers 10 and 11 , and Voyagers 1 and 2 . All four probes took a direct route to our largest planetary companion and so spent anywhere from 546 to 688 days in transit. The record is held by the New Horizons probe, which traveled between 36,000 and 47,000 mph on its trip to Jupiter (via University of Maine at Presque Isle ), reaching the planet in 405 days before continuing on toward Pluto.

Although all of these probes managed to reach Jupiter, none of them stuck around. The Voyager probes have left the solar system (via Space.com ) and New Horizons is moseying about in the Kuiper Belt (via Space Center Houston ). Only two spacecraft have ever traveled to Jupiter and stayed there: Galileo and Juno . Both probes took a more circuitous route to get to Jupiter, using the gravitational pull of the inner planets to gain the speed required to launch past the asteroid belt and into Jupiter's orbit. Taking the long way means you use less fuel on the trip, fuel which is needed to slow down enough to achieve a stable orbit (via ScienceABC ). So how long did these trips take? Galileo clocked in at just over six years, and Juno managed to do it in a bit under five.

Human exploration

The extent of our manned forays into outer space have reached no farther than the moon. Our last trip there was in 1972 but we hope to be back there by 2025 (at the soonest) on the Artemis 3 mission, which should take about three days (per Royal Museums Greenwich ) to travel to the moon. NASA's explicit plan is to use these missions as a foundation on which to build missions to Mars in the 2030s.

According to NASA, the simplest, fuel-efficient route to Mars would take nine months for a one-way trip, and 21 months to go round trip. If we extrapolate the methodology used to calculate this route, a similar trip to Jupiter would take over six years just for the one-way trip. NASA also estimates that a four-person crew would need 8,000 pounds of food per year, meaning that a trip to Jupiter with four people would need to bring 48,000 pounds of food just to get there, and even more to make the return trip. Plus, the food would need to be launched into space from earth, as well as all of the life-support and scientific equipment. All of that weight will take longer to get up to speed and longer to slow down, increasing the potential timeline of the mission.

Here there be dragons

Supposing that weight is no object and we could potentially bring 100,000 pounds of food on an interplanetary odyssey to Jupiter and back, there's still the problem of getting there safely. Astronauts who leave the confines of the earth's gravity have a host of challenges to overcome. One of the most dangerous is radiation. Aside from the constant bombardment of radiation from the sun, unprotected by our magnetosphere, space travelers will have to protect themselves from a constant barrage of galactic cosmic rays which can lead to genetic damage and cancer (via Nature ). It's even worse around Jupiter.

Spending lots of time in outer space also presents psychological challenges. Long-term space travel can lead to anxiety, worsening interactions with other crew members. Isolation from family and friends, along with a monotonous work schedule, only makes these symptoms worse. And these are problems faced by contemporary space travelers (via Clinical Neuropsychiatry, posted at the National Library of Medicine ). We'll have to overcome these problems and new ones before we consider sending anyone to Mars, let alone Jupiter.

There are also physical risks. Space isn't empty, and when you're traveling at tens of thousands of miles per hour, even an impact with a grain of sand can be disastrous. And to get to Jupiter you'll have to cross the asteroid belt (via NASA ).

Where would we even go?

One of the things that has always fascinated us about Jupiter is that it's a microcosm of the solar system. Just as myriad planets orbit the sun, so too does Jupiter have an entourage of heavenly bodies accompanying it on its voyage. Even though Jupiter is a gas giant with no solid surface on which to land a spacecraft, it does have 79 rocky moons which we could explore.

Four of those moons are substantially larger than the others, with gravity similar to our moon. The first three — Io, Europa, and Ganymede — are too close to Jupiter and receive too much radiation to allow humans on their surface without lots of protection. But the fourth moon, Callisto, receives significantly less radiation than the other three. It's also suspected that it has a subsurface ocean of liquid water which would make life much easier for any human visitors. (via Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences ).

In the early 2000s a study was done to assess the feasibility of a crewed mission to Callisto. It concluded that it wouldn't happen until at least the 2040s and it would require new kinds of propulsion that haven't been tested in space before. But, assuming everything falls into place, an eventual, round-trip mission could take anywhere between 652 and 1,661 days.

How Far Away is Jupiter?

Jupiter, one of the three gas giants in our solar system, is a lovely sight to look at in our evening skies. It always shines brightly but there are times where it is brighter than normal.

These are instances where the gas giant is closer to Earth, although what ‘close’ indicates changes interestingly with time. 

Let’s find out how and why this happens. 

The Distance of Jupiter Changes Over Time 

Jupiter is 365 million miles away when it is closest to Earth and 601 million miles away at its furthest.

Like all the other planets, Jupiter has an elliptical orbit around the Sun. This means that the distance between it and the Sun, and us, keeps changing depending on where we are in our respective orbits. At times when Jupiter is behind the Sun (where Jupiter, the Sun, and Earth align), it moves as far as 601 million miles away . 

As both planets continue to move in their respective orbits, Jupiter’s closest approach to Earth occurs when both planets are in line with the sun on the same side of our star. At this time, Earth is between Jupiter and the Sun with Jupiter on the Sun’s opposite side, which is why this time is known as opposition. 

Oppositions of Jupiter occurs every 13 months (399 days to be exact). Each time, Jupiter is as close as 365 million miles from Earth, shining the brightest and largest in our skies.

Now you can see why there is no single answer to explain how far away the massive planet Jupiter is. As its position keeps varying, so does its distance. Instead, let’s understand Jupiter’s closest, farthest, and average distance with respect to Earth. 

Jupiter’s Closest Approach to Earth

Jupiter is closest to Earth at its inferior conjunction when the gas giant and Earth are in a line on the same side of the Sun. The smallest that this distance can be is 365 million miles (587 million km). The planets’ orbits make this happen every 13 months.  

The dates and distances for recent and future inferior conjunctions are given below: 

The fact that both Earth and Jupiter orbit in elliptical orbits indicates that there will be changes in them over time. The closest approach of Jupiter with Earth was in 2010 when it was 75 million miles closer than previous oppositions. 

Jupiter’s Furthest Distance From Earth

Jupiter is furthest from Earth at solar conjunctions. The maximum distance that this can be is 601 million miles (961 million km) . The dates and distances for recent and future inferior conjunctions are given below: 

During solar conjunctions, Jupiter will be on the other side of the Sun and is impossible to observe under the Sun’s glare. This is also the time that Jupiter is smallest and faintest. 

The Average Distance of Jupiter

The closest and furthest distances of Jupiter from Earth happen every 13 months. The average distance of Jupiter from Earth hovers around 385 million miles (611 million km). 

Now, it is important to note that these figures are not set in stone, but are useful approximations to remember. 

How Long Does it Take to Get to Jupiter?

So far, in this article, we have learned the distance from Earth to Jupiter at two important points in its orbit. We can now proceed to understand how long it takes to get to the gas giant. 

There are two ways to go about this. First, we will look at the time light takes to reach Jupiter. 

Next, we will board a spaceship (imaginatively, of course) and see how long it’ll take us to travel to the fifth planet in our solar system (we cannot travel at the speed of light, so this should be an interesting analysis). 

Let’s go! 

How Long Does Light Take to Travel from Jupiter to Earth?

Light travels the fastest of all known objects because it has no mass. Its speed is a whopping 186,282 miles per second. At this rate, let’s take a look at the shortest, longest, and the average time for light to travel between the two planets: 

Shortest = 365 million miles (587 million km) = 1,962 seconds = 32 minutes and 07 seconds.

Average = 385 million miles (611 million km) =  2,070 seconds = 34 minutes and 05 seconds.

Furthest = 601 million miles (961 million km) = 3,231 seconds = 54 minutes and 25 seconds. 

At its average distance of 385 million miles, light takes 32 minutes and 07 seconds to reach Earth from Jupiter. As the planets orbit the Sun, this time varies between 32 minutes 07 seconds, and 54 minutes 25 seconds. 

This also means that when you look at Jupiter’s moons in the night sky, you are looking at where they were at least 32 minutes 07 seconds ago !

These calculations are if we could travel at the speed of light, which, unfortunately, we cannot. So let’s look at how long it would take us humans to get to Jupiter. 

How Long Does it Take a Spaceship to Travel to Jupiter? 

The short answer is two to six years, depending on the route followed and the speed.

Until now, we have been focused on understanding how Jupiter’s and Earth’s orbits work. In order to get to Jupiter, considering the speed of our spaceship and the route it takes is also very important. Let’s take a look at past missions to see how long they took: 

This meant that their path was not so straightforward, their speed was slower so that when they reached Jupiter, they could be captured by its gravitational field (and not fly away). 

So, depending on whether you want to skim by Jupiter or stick around, it will take you anywhere between 546 days to 2,242 days. The shortest time a spacecraft has taken to get to Jupiter from Earth is 546 days or 17.9 months. The longest journey took 2,242 days or 6.1 years. 

With this, we have covered planet Jupiter end to end: from understanding its orbit and the time we will take to reach it if we were to hop on a spaceship. Next time you observe the gas giant, I am sure these thoughts will make your experience more fulfilling! 

Sharmila Kuthunur is an astronomy science writer based in the US. She has been a bibliophile for as...

View all posts

How Far Away Is Mars?

Join 13,000+ backyard astronomers for exclusive stargazing content.

Our subscribers receive a detailed weekly guide to the moon and planets, as well as exclusive astronomy content that doesn’t appear on the website.

Press the button below to sign up - don’t miss another week!

• How Long Would It Take To Travel To Each Planet?

Our solar system is home to eight individual planets . Moving outwards from the sun , they are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Some of these worlds are far closer than others, and the time it would take to travel to each planet is different for every one of them. Just how long would it take to travel to each planet?

Mercury and Venus

How long it would take to travel to the planets is dependent upon a number of factors, such as the route you take, the spacecraft you use, and where the planets are located in their respective orbits . To simplify things, we will assume that the route you take is a direct one and that the planets are at their closest approach to one another. Furthermore, we will assume that any spacecraft we use to travel to the planets is as fast as the New Horizons spacecraft, which happens to be one of the fastest human-made objects ever built. At its fastest, New Horizons reached a speed of about 50,000-miles per hour (80,000-kilometres per hour). Since Mercury and Venus are the closest planets to Earth , the time it would take to travel to them will be the shortest. At its closest approach, Mercury is about 48-million miles (77-million kilometres) from Earth. To calculate time, we simply divide distance by velocity, so in this case we divide 48-million miles by 50,000-miles per hour, giving us 960-hours of travel time. Divide this by 24-hours, and we get the number of days it would take to get to Mercury, which ends up being 40-days. When Venus is at its closest approach to Earth, it is about 38-million miles (61-million kilometres) away, and so it would take about 32-days to get to Venus. 

Mars is the most frequently visited planet in our solar system. While humans have yet to land on the Martian surface, space agencies have sent a number of rovers , landers, and satellites to study the Red Planet. During its closest approach, Mars is about 51-million miles (82-million kilometres) away from Earth. Moving at a speed of 50,000-miles per hour, it would take you about 42.5-days to reach Mars. 

Jupiter and Saturn

Beyond the orbit of Mars is the realm of the gas giants . Beyond Mars, the gas giants are much further away than their rocky counterparts. Jupiter is the closest gas giant to Earth, yet even at its closest approach it is still 367-million miles (590-million kilometres) away from our world. At this distance and moving at a speed of 50,000-miles per hour, it would take you 306-days to reach Jupiter. Saturn , meanwhile, is much further away than even Jupiter. At its closest approach to Earth, Saturn is 746-million miles (1.2-billion kilometres) away. At this distance, it would take you 622-days or 1.7-years to reach Saturn. 

Uranus and Neptune

Beyond Jupiter and Saturn are the two outermost planets of our solar system, Uranus and Neptune . These two worlds are so far away from us that they are the only two planets not visible to the naked eye. At its closest approach to the Earth, Uranus is located a staggering 1.7-billion miles (2.7-billion kilometres) away. Travelling in a spacecraft moving at 50,000-miles per hour, it would take you 1,416-days or 3.88-years to reach Uranus. When Neptune is at its closest approach, the distance between Earth and Neptune is 2.7-billion miles (4.3-billion kilometres), and so it would take 2,250-days or 6.16-years.

Planetary Travel Time

More in science.

Where Do Most Earthquakes Occur In The US?

Black Holes Might be Defects in Space and Time

How Are Earthquakes Measured Using The Richter Scale?

How Many New Species Are Discovered Every Year?

Where Does The Sun Rise And Set?

How Hot Is The Sun?

How Many Planets Are In The Milky Way?

• For the best experience possible, please upgrade your browser. Upgrade now.
• Javascript must be enabled to use Cool Cosmos. Learn how.

• NGC 1097 (Spitzer)
• Helix (Spitzer)
• Flame Nebula (WISE)
• Galactic Center (2MASS)
• Cool Andromeda (Herschel)

• Could there be life on Jupiter's moon Europa?
• What color is Jupiter?
• How old is Jupiter?
• Does Jupiter have a solid surface?
• What is the largest moon in the Solar System?
• Why does Io have so many volcanoes?
• How many moons does Jupiter have?
• Did a comet really crash into Jupiter?
• How did Jupiter get its name?
• Who discovered Jupiter?
• What are the stripes of color on Jupiter?
• Does Jupiter have rings?
• How strong is the gravity on Jupiter?
• How large is Jupiter compared to Earth?
• What is the Great Red Spot on Jupiter?

How long does it take Jupiter to go around the Sun?

• How long is a day on Jupiter?

Jupiter revolves or orbits around the Sun once every 11.86 Earth years, or once every 4,330.6 Earth days. Jupiter travels at an average speed of 29,236 miles per hour or 47,051 kilometers per hour in its orbit around the Sun.

How long does it take to get to each planet?

Last Updated: September 29, 2023

Interplanetary spaceflights have come a long way since Venera 3, the first human-made object to make contact with another planet when it crash-landed on Venus in 1966. Since then, our robotic ambassadors have visited every planet in our solar system, each mission a choreographed dance adapting to the planets’ unique orbital paths.

But as we marvel at these astronomical achievements, we might find ourselves asking a seemingly simple question: How long would it take to reach each planet in our cosmic backyard?

Unsurprisingly, the answer is not set in stone. A planet’s position in its orbital dance can drastically influence travel time, and variables like speed, trajectory, payload weight, and fuel efficiency come into play as well. 

If you’ve ever been intrigued by how much of space we’ve explored so far , join us as we delve into the various factors that dictate the time required to reach each planet in our solar system.

• Mercury: ~7 years (average)
• Venus: ~161.25 days (about 5.375 months) (average)
• Mars: ~128 to 360 days (varies per mission)
• Jupiter: ~3 years and 3 months (average for flybys); ~5.5 years (average for orbital missions)
• Saturn: ~6.5/7 years (for orbital missions like Cassini)
• Uranus: 8 years, 5 months (Voyager 2); 13.4 years (proposed for Uranus Orbiter and Probe)
• Neptune: 12 years (Voyager 2)
• Pluto: 9.5 years (New Horizons)

Trave time to Mercury

Mercury is the least visited planet in the solar system. To this day only 3 missions made it to the closest planet of the solar system : Mariner 10, MESSENGER and Bepi-Colombo.

• Mariner 10 took 147 days to reach Venus (4 months and 27 days).
• Messenger took 7 years to reach Mercury.
• Bepi-Colombo will take 7 years too, it’s currently 5 years into its journey.

Now you may think, why does it take so long to reach a planet that’s not that far away from Earth . Though Earth is on average ten times closer to Mercury than to Jupiter, missions to both planets can take a similar amount of time due to the complexities involved in entering Mercury’s orbit.

When approaching Mercury, a spacecraft speeds up due to its proximity to the Sun and needs to shed significant orbital energy to slow down. Achieving this using only thrusters would require impractical amounts of fuel.

Instead, spacecraft use gravity-assist manoeuvres, involving flybys of other planets, to alter speed and trajectory without consuming fuel. This technique, however, necessitates careful planning and multiple flybys, making the journey lengthy. Italian mathematician Giuseppe ‘Bepi’ Colombo pioneered the concept of using planetary flybys for trajectory alteration.

On average, it takes a spacecraft about seven years to travel to Mercury, become captured by the planet’s gravity, and enter a stable orbit around it.

Trave time to Venus

With 46 space missions aiming to either flyby, land, impact or orbit Venus , it safe to say that Earth’s twin planet is a more popular destination for astronomers. To this day, it is the most visited planet by mankind and the first planet on which we have soft landed a spacecraft on (Venera 7).

In order to estimate the time it takes to reach Venus, I examined data from only landers and orbiters and calculated an average time of 161.25 days or about 5.375 months.

Trave time to Mars

The time it takes to get to Mars is influenced by various factors including the planets’ positions in their orbits, the spacecraft’s speed, and its trajectory. Both Earth and Mars have elliptical orbits, with Mars being an average distance of 140 million miles away from Earth . They come closest every two years at approximately 33.9 million miles apart.

The optimal window for launching missions to Mars occurs once every 26 months, and travel times for past missions have varied between 128 to 360 days, based on different launch windows and mission profiles. NASA estimates that, with current technology, a mission to Mars would take around nine months when the planets are properly aligned.

Flight time of past missions to Mars

• Mariner 4 (1964) had a flight time of 228 days.
• Mariner 6 (1969) got to the red planet in 156 days.
• Mariner 7 (1969) got to Mars in 128 days.
• Mariner 9 (1971) reached the red planet in 167 days.
• Viking 1 (1976) took on an 11-month cruise to Mars.
• Viking 2 (1976) had a flight time of 360 days.
• Mars Odyssey (2001) reached the dusty planet in about 200 days.
• Mars Express (2003) completed its journey in around 6 months.
• Opportunity Rover (2003) landed on Marse after 201 days spent in space.
• Spirit (2003) touched down in Gusev crater after traveling for 179 days.
• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (2005) took 210 days to reach its destination.
• Phoenix (2007) completed its travel to Mars in  295 days
• Curiosity (2011) touched down on the martian surface after a trip lasting 253 days.
• MAVEN (2013) entered the martian orbit after a 10-month trip.
• Insight (2018) reached Mars in 206 days.
• Perseverance , the latest rover to make it to Mars , did the trip Earth-Mars in 204 days.

More information here: How Long Does it Take to Get to Mars?

Trave time to Jupiter

Jupiter is, on average, about 484 million miles (778 million kilometers) away from Earth . This vast distance poses challenges in terms of propulsion, energy, and communication. Many missions to Jupiter used gravity assists from other planets (especially Venus and Earth) to increase their speed and save fuel. 

This spaceflight maneuver allows a spacecraft to pass close to a planet and utilise its gravitational field in order to gain speed. Planning and executing these maneuvers adds complexity to the mission.

On average, based on all past missions, the average travel time to Jupiter is approximately 3 years and 3 months. However, the large majority were just flybys by spacecrafts going much further in the solar system. 

Only 2 missions actually stopped at Jupiter so far: Galileo (flew for 6 years and 2 months) and June (flew for 5 years) so the actual time to reach Jupiter is closer to the 5 years and a half mark.

Flight time of past and future missions to Jupiter

• Pioneer 10 took 1 year and 9 months to reach Jupiter.
• Pioneer 11 journeyed to Jupiter in 1 year and 8 months.
• Voyager 1 arrived at Jupiter after a travel period of 1 year and 6 months.
• In 1 year and 11 months, Voyager 2 made its way to Jupiter.
• Galileo had a journey duration of just under 6 years and 2 months to Jupiter.
• The trip to Jupiter for Ulysses was completed in 1 year and 4 months.
• Cassini reached Jupiter in 3 years and 2.5 months.
• Juno had a voyage to Jupiter lasting just under 5 years.
• New Horizons set the record with a swift journey to Jupiter in just over 13 months.
• Juice, an upcoming mission, is projected to take approximately 7.5 years to Jupiter.
• Another future mission, Europa Clipper, is anticipated to reach Jupiter in approximately 5.5 years.

More information here: How long would it take to reach Jupiter?

Trave time to Saturn

Imagine this: Jupiter is a staggering 778,600,000 km from the Sun, while Saturn lies even further at 1,433,500,000 km away . So, if you thought Jupiter was distant, you’d have to travel nearly twice as far to reach Saturn. And remember, Saturn is only the sixth of the eight planets in our solar system!

There have been 4 missions that have either included Saturn in their flight plan or had it as the final destination and one of note sped past it on its way to the edge of the solar system.

• Voyager 1: Launched on September 5, 1977, Voyager 1 reached Saturn in November 1979, taking approximately 3 years and 2 months.
• Voyager 2: Launched on August 20, 1977, Voyager 2 arrived at Saturn on August 26, 1981, taking around 4 years to reach the planet.
• Cassini: Launched on October 15, 1997, Cassini entered orbit around Saturn on June 30, 2004, taking nearly 6 years and 9 months for the journey.
• New Horizons: Launched on January 19, 2006, New Horizons crossed Saturn’s orbit on June 8, 2008, which is approximately 2 years and 4 months after launch, although it didn’t specifically study Saturn.

Three of the aforementioned spacecrafts executed flyby trajectories past Saturn, with only Cassini undertaking orbital insertion around the ringed planet. So the most accurate time to reach Saturn is more likely to be around the the 6.5/7 years as it takes a considerable time to decelerate and manoeuvre a spacecraft to facilitate gravitational capture by the planet.

More information here: How long would it take to reach Saturn ?

Trave time to Uranus

Only one spacecraft has visited Uranus: Voyager 2. The Voyager spacecraft (1 and 2) were created to perform a “Grand Tour of the Outer Solar System”. Due to budget and other concerns, the missions were whittled down, but still took advantage of a rare planetary alignment to study the outer solar system before heading into interstellar space.

From launch to flyby of Uranus was from Aug. 20, 1977 to Jan. 24, 1986 (eight years, five months) for Voyager 2, but it’s important to remember that it included a gravity assist from Jupiter and a unique line-up of planets that helped to greatly reduce the travel time.

The Uranus Orbiter and Probe is a proposed joint NASA and ESA mission to study Uranus, including deploying a probe into its atmosphere to gather data. The original proposed flight plan listed a launch date of 2031 or 2032 utilizing a Falcon Heavy expendable launch vehicle which would take 13.4 years to reach Uranus (in 2044 or 2045) utilizing a gravity assist from Jupiter. This mission is yet to be finalized and approved, as it is still in the conceptual stage.

More information: How long does it take to travel to Uranus?

Trave time to Neptune

Similarly to Uranus, Neptune has yet to be the sole object of a space mission. The only spacecraft to ever cross paths with the cerulean planet, Voyager 2, took 12 years to reach it—requiring an additional 3 years and 7 months of travel time from its Uranus flyby.

Regrettably, there are no space missions presently scheduled for the exploration of Neptune. Consequently, our only reference for travel duration to the distant planet is the 12 years taken by Voyager 2, which, notably, ranks as the fifth fastest spacecraft in history with a speed of 55,570 km/h (34,530 mph).

More Information: How far is Neptune right now?

Trave time to Pluto

To the dismay of the International Astronomical Union (IAA), I still consider Pluto as something more than a dwarf planet. So I decided to add it to my list 🙂 

Pluto is located at the very edge of the outer solar system and therefore has not been the target of space missions very often. Actually, only one spacecraft ever flew by it: New Horizons. 

Traveling at a phenomenal speed of 57,936 km/h, New Horizon still took 9.5 years to travel the 5.05 billion kilometers / 3.1 billion miles that lie between Earth and Pluto! That’s seven times the distance to Jupiter and 3 times the distance to Saturn!

Bottom Line

The journey to each planet in our solar system presents a unique set of challenges, from the relatively short jaunts to Venus and Mars, to the prolonged and resource-intensive missions to the outer giants like Jupiter and Saturn. 

These timelines, governed by the laws of physics, the capabilities of current propulsion technologies, and the planetary alignments, serve as both opportunities and limitations in our quest to explore the universe.

Projects like the development of nuclear propulsion or breakthroughs in theoretical physics could potentially revolutionize our approach to space travel, radically altering the timescales in ways we can barely imagine today.

Whether we’re considering robotic explorations or pondering the prospects of human settlement on distant worlds, the issue of flight time presents constraint that both challenges and inspires aerospace engineers to innovate and push the boundaries of what’s possible.

Written by Tom Urbain

I’ve been fascinated by space and astronomy from a very young age. When I’m not watching space-themed documentaries, movies or TV series, I spend most of my free time in my backyard admiring the planets and galaxies with my telescope.

Wow! There's more to read 🚀

This page is part of our collection of astronomy articles . If you enjoyed the read, then you’ll love the following articles.

Planetary Time: How long is a day on each planet and Why

What are the differences between a star and a planet?

Attraction Heavyweight: Which Planet Has The Strongest Gravity Field?

Inner planets VS Outer planets: What sets them apart?

Jupiter is about 4 AU from the Earth at opposition (that is when Earth and Jupiter are aligned on the same side of the Sun) 5 AU - 1 AU = 4 AU 1 AU = 150,000,000 kilometers So this (4 AU) is about 600,000,000 kilometers Light travels at 300,000 kilometers/sec Therefore, the time it takes light (or radio waves) to travel from the Earth to Jupiter (or vice-versa) when the two planets are closest is (600,000,000 kilometers) / (300,000 kilometers/second) = 2,000 seconds = about 33 minutes Remember, this is when the planets are closest to one another. Any other time it will take even longer.

Solar System News

NASA’s Juno Finds Jupiter’s Winds Penetrate in Cylindrical Layers

NASA’s Juno captured this view of Jupiter during the mission’s 54th close flyby of the giant planet on Sept. 7. The image was made with raw data from the JunoCam instrument that was processed to enhance details in cloud features and colors.

The finding offers deeper insights into the long-debated internal structure of the gas giant.

Gravity data collected by NASA’s Juno mission indicates Jupiter’s atmospheric winds penetrate the planet in a cylindrical manner, parallel to its spin axis. A paper on the findings was recently published in the journal Nature Astronomy .

The violent nature of Jupiter’s roiling atmosphere has long been a source of fascination for astronomers and planetary scientists, and Juno has had a ringside seat to the goings-on since it entered orbit in 2016 . During each of the spacecraft’s 55 to date, a suite of science instruments has peered below Jupiter’s turbulent cloud deck to uncover how the gas giant works from the inside out.

One way the Juno mission learns about the planet’s interior is via radio science. Using NASA’s Deep Space Network antennas, scientists track the spacecraft’s radio signal as Juno flies past Jupiter at speeds near 130,000 mph (209,000 kph), measuring tiny changes in its velocity – as small as 0.01 millimeter per second. Those changes are caused by variations in the planet’s gravity field, and by measuring them, the mission can essentially see into Jupiter’s atmosphere.

Such measurements have led to numerous discoveries, including the existence of a dilute core deep within Jupiter and the depth of the planet’s zones and belts , which extend from the cloud tops down approximately 1,860 miles (3,000 kilometers).

Doing the Math

To determine the location and cylindrical nature of the winds, the study’s authors applied a mathematical technique that models gravitational variations and surface elevations of rocky planets like Earth. At Jupiter, the technique can be used to accurately map winds at depth. Using the high-precision Juno data, the authors were able to generate a four-fold increase in the resolution over previous models created with data from NASA’s trailblazing Jovian explorers Voyager and Galileo.

This illustration depicts findings that Jupiter’s atmospheric winds penetrate the planet in a cylindrical manner and parallel to its spin axis. The most dominant jet recorded by NASA’s Juno is shown in the cutout: The jet is at 21 degrees north latitude at cloud level, but 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers) below that, it’s at 13 degrees north latitude.

“We applied a constraining technique developed for sparse data sets on terrestrial planets to process the Juno data,” said Ryan Park, a Juno scientist and lead of the mission’s gravity science investigation from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “This is the first time such a technique has been applied to an outer planet.”

The measurements of the gravity field matched a two-decade-old model that determined Jupiter’s powerful east-west zonal flows extend from the cloud-level white and red zones and belts inward. But the measurements also revealed that rather than extending in every direction like a radiating sphere, the zonal flows go inward, cylindrically, and are oriented along the direction of Jupiter’s rotation axis. How Jupiter’s deep atmospheric winds are structured has been in debated since the 1970s, and the Juno mission has now settled the debate.

Get the Latest JPL News

“All 40 gravity coefficients measured by Juno matched our previous calculations of what we expect the gravity field to be if the winds penetrate inward on cylinders,” said Yohai Kaspi of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, the study’s lead author and a Juno co-investigator. “When we realized all 40 numbers exactly match our calculations, it felt like winning the lottery.”

Along with bettering the current understanding of Jupiter’s internal structure and origin, the new gravity model application could be used to gain more insight into other planetary atmospheres.

Find out where Juno is right now with NASA’s interactive Eyes on the Solar System . With its blades stretching out some 66 feet (20 meters), the spacecraft is a dynamic engineering marvel, spinning to keep itself stable as it orbits Jupiter and flies by some of the planet’s moons. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Juno is currently in an extended mission. Along with flybys of Jupiter, the solar-powered spacecraft has completed a series of flybys of the planet’s icy moons Ganymede and Europa and is in the midst of several close flybys of Io. The Dec. 30 flyby of Io will be the closest to date, coming within about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) of its volcano-festooned surface.

“As Juno’s journey progresses, we’re achieving scientific outcomes that truly define a new Jupiter and that likely are relevant for all giant planets, both within our solar system and beyond,” said Scott Bolton, the principal investigator of the Juno mission at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “The resolution of the newly determined gravity field is remarkably similar to the accuracy we estimated 20 years ago. It is great to see such agreement between our prediction and our results.”

More About the Mission

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott J. Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft.

More information about Juno is available at:

https://www.nasa.gov/juno

News Media Contact

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-393-9011

[email protected]

Karen Fox / Alana Johnson

NASA Headquarters, Washington

301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501

[email protected] / [email protected]

Dana Bernstein

Weizmann Institute of Science

972-8-934-3856

[email protected]

NASA's Juno probe captures amazing views of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io (video)

"Io is simply littered with volcanoes, and we caught a few of them in action."

The four biggest moons of Jupiter aren't just blurry smudges in Galileo's telescope anymore.

The Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered Ganymede, Callisto, Europa and Io back in 1610, which explains why they're called the Galilean moons. We've learned a lot about these exotic bodies in the past 400 years thanks to ever-improving telescope views and close-up imagery snapped by voyaging spacecraft like NASA's Juno Jupiter orbiter.

Indeed, Juno recently conducted two close flybys of Io , the most volcanically active body in the solar system , and data from the encounters is wowing scientists. 

Related: NASA's Juno probe sees active volcanic eruptions on Jupiter's volcanic moon Io (images)

"Io is simply littered with volcanoes, and we caught a few of them in action," Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator, said in a NASA statement on Thursday (April 18).

"We also got some great close-ups and other data on a 200-kilometer-long (127-mile-long) lava lake called Loki Patera," Bolton added. "There is amazing detail showing these crazy islands embedded in the middle of a potentially magma lake rimmed with hot lava. The specular reflection our instruments recorded of the lake suggests parts of Io's surface are as smooth as glass, reminiscent of volcanically created obsidian glass on Earth."

Juno came within about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) of Io's roiling surface during the two flybys, which occurred in December 2023 and February 2024. Mission team members processed the encounter data into a flyover animation, which provides a dazzling view of the moon.

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Maps created with Juno data recently also have shown that Io's surface is smoother than those of the other Galilean moons , and that Io's poles are colder than its mid-latitude regions, mission team members said.

Jupiter, too

Juno has also collected intriguing information about the poles of Jupiter recently using its Microwave Radiometer (MWR) instrument, including differences among the gas giant's intriguing north polar cyclones.

"Perhaps [the] most striking example of this disparity can be found with the central cyclone at Jupiter's north pole," Steve Levin, Juno's project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said in the same statement. 

"It is clearly visible in both infrared and visible light images, but its microwave signature is nowhere near as strong as other nearby storms," Levin added. "This tells us that its subsurface structure must be very different from these other cyclones."

The Juno team is also learning more about Jupiter's water abundance. The scientists aren't looking for flowing lakes and rivers — Jupiter has no discernible surface, after all — but rather for oxygen and hydrogen molecules in its thick atmosphere. Such work follows on from that done by NASA's Galileo Jupiter orbiter , which ended its mission with an intentional death dive into Jupiter's atmosphere in 1995.

 —  Massive, months-long volcanic eruption roils Jupiter's moon Io

 — See Jupiter's volcanic moon Io glow red-hot in incredible images from NASA's Juno probe

—    Juno: Taking a Long Look at Jupiter

Galileo "did amazing science, but its data was so far afield from our models of Jupiter's water abundance that we considered whether the location it sampled could be an outlier. But before Juno, we couldn't confirm," Bolton said. "Now, with recent results made with MWR data, we have nailed down that the water abundance near Jupiter's equator is roughly three to four times the solar abundance when compared to hydrogen. This definitively demonstrates that the Galileo probe's entry site was an anomalously dry, desert-like region."

While there are still many questions surrounding how Jupiter formed, scientists continue to rely on data coming in from Juno's extended mission. The probe's next close flyby of Jupiter — its 61st overall — will be on May 12.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Meredith is a regional Murrow award-winning Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and science/space correspondent. She most recently was a Freelance Meteorologist for NY 1 in New York City & the 19 First Alert Weather Team in Cleveland. A self-described "Rocket Girl," Meredith's personal and professional work has drawn recognition over the last decade, including the inaugural Valparaiso University Alumni Association First Decade Achievement Award, two special reports in News 12's Climate Special "Saving Our Shores" that won a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award, multiple Fair Media Council Folio & Press Club of Long Island awards for meteorology & reporting, and a Long Island Business News & NYC TV Week "40 Under 40" Award.

Jupiter's violent moon Io has been the solar system's most volcanic body for around 4.5 billion years

Hubble Telescope spies stormy weather and a shrinking Great Red Spot on Jupiter (video)

Watch 2 gorgeous supernova remnants evolve over 20 years (timelapse video)

Admin said: NASA's Juno probe continues to give us more insight into Jupiter and the giant planet's moons, including Io, the most volcanically active object in the solar system. NASA's Juno probe captures amazing views of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io (video) : Read more

• billslugg https://solar-center.stanford.edu/news/sunwater.html Water on the Sun is a new on me. This article explains that they got water vapor spectra out of sunspots back in 1997. It seems it is important in mediating energy transport through its absorption of infra red. A sunspot can be as cool as 3000°C. At that temperature, "more than half*" of water molecules are disassociated into their elements. This means that water vapor is going to be present if there is much oxygen around. Sun is about 1% oxygen. *Wiki, no source given. Reply
• nogyndryl Any idea as to when we are going to be able to see these amazing views? Reply
• View All 3 Comments

Most Popular

• 2 Boeing Starliner 1st astronaut flight: Live updates
• 3 US Space Force picks Rocket Lab for 2025 Victus Haze space domain awareness mission
• 4 Exploding stars send out powerful bursts of energy − I'm leading a citizen scientist project to classify and learn about these bright flashes
• 5 Wow! Private space-junk probe snaps historic photo of discarded rocket in orbit

Astronomy Picture of the Day

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Give a Gift Subscription
• Sweepstakes

You'll Be Able to See Jupiter and Uranus Tomorrow Night — What to Know

Here’s how to spot the Jupiter-Uranus hangout on Saturday, plus tips for snagging the best planet view.

Stephanie Vermillion is a travel journalist and photographer covering culture and adventure for Travel + Leisure Outside, and more.

m-gucci/Getty Images

On the night of April 20, two of Earth’s interstellar neighbors will hang out in the evening sky — and you can admire them with your own two eyes, or better yet, a pair of binoculars .

The two will appear only half a degree apart, according to the Society for Popular Astronomy ; that’s around the same diameter as the moon. This proximity means Jupiter and Uranus will both fit in the same binocular view. A dim new moon will only enhance the viewing.

Here’s how to spot the Jupiter-Uranus hangout on the evening of April 20, plus tips for snagging the best planet view.

When to See Jupiter ‘Meet’ Uranus

Jupiter and Uranus have been hovering near each other throughout the month — to the point they even appeared together near the moon during the total solar eclipse . They will reach their closest point the night of April 20, according to stargazing app Starwalk . For the best observation, head out just after sunset. The two will slide beneath the horizon around 10 p.m. EDT. 

They may appear to touch in the sky this evening, but Jupiter and Uranus actually have over 1 billion miles of distance between them, according to ThePlanets.org.

Where to Look for Jupiter and Uranus on Saturday Night

The planet duo will travel from the western sky toward the northwest horizon as the evening wears on. Look for Jupiter and Uranus after sunset just below the Pleiades star cluster, and near the constellation Aries. Try a stargazing app, such as Starwalk or SkySafari , to aid your night-sky navigation.

How to See Jupiter and Uranus

Given Jupiter and Uranus are only half a degree from each other in the night sky, you’ll be able to see both simultaneously in a pair of stargazing binoculars . Stargazers rarely need visual aids to observe bright Jupiter, but binoculars can enhance the view —and make tougher-to-spot Uranus more visible. To further improve your stargazing, watch for the duo from a dark-sky destination with minimal light pollution, such as a stargazing-focused hotel — or, even better, a hotel with in-room telescopes and guided stargazing .