Exploration of Jupiter Exploration of Jupiter The exploration of Jupiter has been conducted via close observations by automated spacecraft. It began with the arrival of "Pioneer 10" into the Jovian system in 1973, and, , has continued with eight further spacecraft missions. All of these missions were undertaken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and all but two have been flybys that take detailed observations without the probe landing or entering orbit. These probes make Jupiter the most visited of the Solar System's outer planets as all missions to the outer Solar System have used Jupiter flybys to reduce fuel requirements
Exploration of Jupiter a European "Jovian Europa Orbiter" mission were also studied, but were superseded by the "Europa Jupiter System Mission". The "Europa Jupiter System Mission" (EJSM) was a joint NASA/ESA proposal for exploration of Jupiter and its moons. In February 2009 it was announced that both space agencies had given this mission priority ahead of the "Titan Saturn System Mission". The proposal included a launch date of around 2020 and consists of the NASA-led "Jupiter Europa Orbiter", and the ESA-led "Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter". ESA's contribution had encountered funding competition from other ESA projects. However, the "Jupiter Europa Orbiter" (JEO), NASA's contribution, was