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Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer

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Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer
Artist's impression of the Juice spacecraft
NamesJuice, JUICE
Mission typePlanetary science
OperatorESA
COSPAR ID2023-053A
SATCAT no.56176Edit this on Wikidata
Mission durationCruise phase: 8 years
Science phase: 3.5 years
Elapsed: 1 year, 6 months and 12 days
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerAirbus Defence and Space
Launch mass6,070 kg (13,380 lb)[1]
Dry mass2,420 kg (5,340 lb)[1]
Dimensions16.8 x 27.1 x 13.7 meters[1]
Power850 watts from a solar panel ~85 m2 (910 sq ft)[1]
Start of mission
Launch date14 April 2023 12:14:36 UTC [2]
RocketAriane 5 ECA
Launch siteCentre Spatial Guyanais, ELA-3
ContractorArianespace
Flyby of Moon
Closest approach19 August 2024
Flyby of Earth
Closest approach20 August 2024
Flyby of Venus
Closest approach31 August 2025
Flyby of Earth
Closest approach29 September 2026
Flyby of Earth
Closest approach18 January 2029
Jupiter orbiter
Orbital insertionJuly 2031 (planned)
Orbital departureDecember 2034 (planned)
Ganymede orbiter
Orbital insertionDecember 2034 (planned)
Orbit parameters
Periapsis500 km (310 mi)
Apoapsis500 km (310 mi)
Juice mission logo
Juice mission insignia
← Euclid
SMILE →
 

Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is a space probe made by the European Space Agency that will explore Jupiter's major moons, mostly just Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto. It is powered by solar panels, like NASA's Juno (spacecraft).[3]

The spacecraft launched on 14 April 2023. It will reach Jupiter in July 2031 after four gravity assists and eight years of travel.[4]

It will fly near the moons before going into orbit around Ganymede.[5]

Instruments onboard JUICE[6]

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JUICE under- construction

JANUS- An optical camera system

MAJIS- Moon and Jupiter imaging Spectrometer

GALA- Ganymede laser Altimeter

J-Mag- A magnetometer for JUICE

RPWI- Radio & Plasma Wave Investigation

UVS- UV imaging Spectrograph

SWI- Sub-millimeter Wave Instrument

RIME- Radar for Icy Moons Exploration

PEP- Particle Environment Package

3GM- Gravity & Geophysics of Jupiter and Galilean Moons

History

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Juice builds on the previously proposed Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM-Laplace), a planned collaborative mission between ESA and NASA that would have carried out an in-depth study of the Jovian system and its icy moons. It is now foreseen that the Juice and NASA Europa Clipper spacecraft will be exploring the Jovian system simultaneously.[6]

Milestones JUICE will achieve

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  • It will be the first spacecraft to orbit a moon in the outer solar system(Ganymede)
  • Juice’s flyby of the Earth-Moon system, known as a Lunar-Earth gravity assist (LEGA), is a world first: by performing this maneuver — a gravity assist flyby of the Moon followed just 1.5 days later by one of Earth—Juice will be able to save a significant amount of fuel.[6]

Spacecraft structure

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Three-axis stabilized with 10 solar panels and a 2.5-metre-long High Gain Antenna, with a dry mass of approximately 2400 kg and a wet mass (including fuel) of approximately 6000 kg. Each solar panel measures about 2.5 m x 3.5 m; with five on each side of the spacecraft deployed as two distinctive cross-shaped arrays, these total an area of about 85 square meters.

Journey

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Juice will spend approximately eight years cruising to Jupiter, during which it will complete fly-bys of Venus, Earth and the Earth-Moon system. It will reach Jupiter in July 2031; six months before entering orbit around Jupiter, Juice will begin its nominal science phase. The spacecraft will go on to spend many months orbiting Jupiter, completing fly-bys of Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, and finally conducting an orbital tour of Ganymede.[6]

Details

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Details about the JUICE mission
Life time 4yrs.
Launch Kourou, French guinia
Rocket Ariane 5
Launch date April 13, 2023
Launch Time 12:15UTC (8:15am EDT) (5:35pm IST)

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "NASA – NSSDCA – Spacecraft – Details". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2023. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ↑ "European Space Agency: Blast off for Jupiter icy moons mission". BBC News. 14 April 2023. Archived from the original on 14 April 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  3. ↑ Greicius, Tony (2015-02-13). "Juno - Mission to Jupiter". NASA. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
  4. ↑ "European Space Agency: Blast off for Jupiter icy moons mission". BBC News. 14 April 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  5. ↑ "Juice factsheet". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Juice factsheet". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
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