ESA's JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) mission is Ready to launch on Thursday , April 13

JUICE has the potential to be an exciting mission as a host of the cutting edge Tech the explorer has on board is designed to examine and characterize three of Jupiter's ocean worlds , Ganymede, Europa and Callisto.

Here's a rundown of the toys on board , JUICE is expected to enter Jupiter's orbit in 2031 from where it will conduct 35 planed flyby's of the Jovian Moons.

3GM, or the Gravity & Geophysics of Jupiter and Galilean Moons, is a radio package comprising the KaT (Ka transponder), USO (ultrastable oscillator) and HAA (High Accuracy Accelerometer). The experiment will study the gravity field at Ganymede, the extent of the internal oceans on the icy moons, and the structure of the neutral atmosphere and ionosphere of Jupiter and its moons.

GALA, the Ganymede Laser Altimeter will study the tidal deformation of Ganymede and the topography of the surfaces of the icy moons.

JANUS, an optical camera system, will study global, regional and local features and processes on the moon, as well as map the clouds of Jupiter. It will have a resolution up to 2.4 m on Ganymede and about 10 km at Jupiter.

J-MAG is the Juice magnetometer; it is equipped with sensors to characterise the Jovian magnetic field and its interaction with that of Ganymede, and to study the subsurface oceans of the icy moons.

MAJIS is the Moons and Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer. It will observe cloud features and atmospheric constituents on Jupiter, and will characterise ices and minerals on the icy moon surfaces.

PEP is the Particle Environment Package. It comprises a package of sensors to characterise the plasma environment of the Jupiter system and the icy moons.

RIME, the Radar for Icy Moons Exploration, is an ice-penetrating radar to study the subsurface structure of the icy moons down to a depth of around nine kilometres.

RPWI, the Radio and Plasma Wave Investigation, will characterise the radio emission and plasma environment of Jupiter and its icy moons using a suite of sensors and probes.

SWI, the Sub-millimeter Wave Instrument, will investigate the temperature structure, composition and dynamics of Jupiter’s atmosphere, and the exospheres and surfaces of the icy moons.

UVS is a UV imaging spectrograph to characterise the composition and dynamics of the exospheres of the icy moons, to study the Jovian aurorae, and to investigate the composition and structure of the planet’s upper atmosphere.

RADEMis a radiation monitor that will track how much radiation Juice is exposed to, whilst also being used for science.

PRIDE will use Juice’s standard telecommunication system, together with radio telescopes on Earth to perform precise measurements of the spacecraft’s position and velocity to investigate the gravity fields of Jupiter and the icy moons.
www.esa.int...

The RIME instrument sounds maybe the most amazing-will it be able to detect small moving objects I wonder?We may get radar data from creatures swimming around under the ice if it can.

It reminded me that years back NASA announced thet would send robo-subs to Io or one of the other icy moons-They were collaberating with a guy who makes pretty cool deep diving drones,but I forget his name and the name of the program.
I haven't heard anything about it for years thou,maybe the project got canned.

I have wanted to see what is in those oceans since I first read about them existing-I reckon thats where the coolest stuff in our solar system will be found(not counting our own planet).

Cheers for giving me something to look forward to

The launch of the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer has been postponed due to an expected storm front that could have seen the rocket struck by lightning but ESA still have an opportunity to launch tomorrow , fingers crossed for better weather.

originally posted by: gortex
The launch of the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer has been postponed due to an expected storm front that could have seen the rocket struck by lightning but ESA still have an opportunity to launch tomorrow , fingers crossed for better weather.

It's an eight year journey so I suppose a short delay is tolerable. I hope that I'm still around by the time it starts reporting back some science. Should be very exciting.

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer successfully launched earlier today from ESA's Guiana Space Centre on an Ariane 5 rocket , JUICE has now separated from the rocket and deployed its solar arrays , all systems are Go for its 8 year journey to Jupiter.


A bit of good news in a bad news world.

Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer has sent home it's first pictures as it heads out on it's epic journey of discovery.

Shortly after launch on 14 April, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, captured this stunning view of Earth. The coastline around the Gulf of Aden can be made out to the right of centre, with patchy clouds above land and sea.

The image was taken by Juice monitoring camera 1 (JMC1) at 14:42 CEST, following launch at 14:14 CEST. JMC1 is located on the front* of the spacecraft and looks diagonally up into a field of view that will eventually see deployed antennas, and depending on their orientation, part of one of the solar arrays.
www.esa.int...

Following the successful launch of the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer ESA have spent the last 3 weeks battling to get one of its main pieces of equipment to deploy , the penetrating Radar antenna (RIME) was stuck in place and refusing to budge but now after various attempts to free the antenna ESA have managed to get it to deploy.

During the first attempt to extend the folded-up antenna, only the first segments of each half were deployed. Flight controllers suspected that a tiny stuck pin jammed the other segments in place.

Fortunately, the flight control teams at ESA’s mission control centre in Darmstadt had lots of ideas up their sleeves.

To try to shift the pin, they shook Juice using its thrusters, then they warmed Juice with sunlight. Every day the RIME antenna was showing signs of movement, but no full release.

On 12 May RIME was finally jolted into life when the flight control team fired a mechanical device called a ‘non-explosive actuator’ (NEA), located in the jammed bracket. This delivered a shock that moved the pin by a matter of millimetres and allowed the antenna to unfold.
www.esa.int...

Phew !



I do like a happy ending.

It only took New Horizons a little over a year to get to Jupiter, but not to go into Jupiter Orbit. Galileo took 6 years, went into orbit and investigated the moons then after 14 years, it was suicided into Jupiter so as not to inadvertently drift into Europa.

This spacecraft will take 8 years, which is a long time but certainly worth the wait. I just hope to be around to catch the data from these moons.

Can't wait for the results and images!

GALA, the Ganymede Laser Altimeter will study the tidal deformation of Ganymede and the topography of the surfaces of the icy moons.
JANUS, an optical camera system, will study global, regional and local features and processes on the moon, as well as map the clouds of Jupiter. It will have a resolution up to 2.4 m on Ganymede and about 10 km at Jupiter.

These two taken together will provide real-looking 3D terrain on Ganymede and other moons, wow! You could then construct a virtual flyover over them.

a reply to: gortex

Cheering on our little robot explorer! Glad to see all is well!