Could we fly straight through the gas giants?

A Solid Core In the distant future, engineers may be able to build a spacecraft that can withstand the conditions inside a gas giant like Jupiter, but even if they do, the craft won’t be able to fly straight through the planet.

Could a spaceship fly through a gas giant like Jupiter?

According to Leigh Fletcher, an associate professor of planetary science at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, the short answer is “no.” A spacecraft could not survive a trip through a gas giant.

Would you go straight through Jupiter?

Surface. As a gas giant, Jupiter doesn’t have a true surface. While a spacecraft would have nowhere to land on Jupiter, it wouldn’t be able to fly through unscathed either. The extreme pressures and temperatures deep inside the planet crush, melt, and vaporize spacecraft trying to fly into the planet.

Would you fall through a gas giant?

Jupiter is made of mostly hydrogen and helium gas. So, trying to land on it would be like trying to land on a cloud here on Earth. There’s no outer crust to break your fall on Jupiter. Just an endless stretch of atmosphere.

Can you fly through Neptune?

Scientists believe that an additional unknown gas makes Neptune more colorful than Uranus. Even if you could stand on Neptune, you’d need to hold onto a solid object to keep from flying away. Winds on the planet can reach up to 2,520 kilometers, or 1,5750 mph.

Can you walk on Jupiter or Saturn?

It would not be possible for us to walk on the gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, or in the ice giants like Neptune and Uranus because they are made of gas.

Can a spacecraft go through a gas giant like Jupiter?

In the distant future, engineers may be able to build a spacecraft that can withstand the conditions inside a gas giant like Jupiter, but even if they do, the craft won’t be able to fly straight through the planet.

Why can’t we go through the clouds on Jupiter?

Despite its gusty reputation as a “gas giant,” Jupiter’s blood-red clouds hide a dense, rocky core that’s perhaps 20 times as massive as Earth. That core blocks any spacecraft’s passage through the center of the planet, but even a detour through the clouds would be a disaster.

Can a spacecraft withstand the winds of a gaseous planet?

NASA’s Voyager spacecraft measured winds blowing at speeds of 1,800 kilometers, or 1,118 miles per hour. Even if engineers could design a spacecraft to withstand the pressures and winds it would encounter in the atmosphere of a gaseous planet, they would also have to make it able to withstand extreme temperatures.

What is the surface of a gas giant?

Because none of the gas giants has a surface, scientists have devised a way to define an arbitrary one. It is the altitude at which the atmospheric pressure is the same as it is at the surface of the Earth. On Jupiter, this is just at the level of its clouds of ammonia ice.