News All These Icy Worlds Are Yours: The JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) Mission

[Notebook]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17917102

Delegates to the European Space Agency are expected to approve a billion-euro mission to Jupiter and its icy moons when they meet in Paris on Wednesday.
The probe, called Juice, would be built in time for a launch in 2022, although it would be a further eight years before it reached the Jovian system.

N.

 

[Jarvitä]

"Juice"? What was wrong with [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Icy_Moons_Orbiter"]JIMO[/ame]?

 

[TMac3000]

For once, I agree. It must have been named by the cast of Desperate Housewives

 

[Alfastar]

Juice? Why not JUPIMEX? :shrug:

Juice is not really a good mission name (Me opinion)

 

[Izack]

Great, the acronyms continue to get worse. Soon enough they'll be down to NASA's level. :facepalm:

Other than the embarrassing name, this looks to be an interesting mission! The Jovian Moons are long overdue for a dedicated probe.

 

[orb]

ESA: JUICE is Europe’s next large science mission

Universe Today: ESA Turns On The JUICE For New Jupiter Mission

SPACE.com: Europe to Explore Jupiter's Icy Moons with JUICE Spacecraft

 

[Unstung]

So it's being approved? Interesting. Europe is still going on with their part of EJSM but in their own way.

Here's a nice .pdf summarizing the mission:
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/opag/mar2012/presentations/Friday/5_JUICE_Summary.pdf

 

[RisingFury]

"Juice"? ESA needs to fire their acronym people...

 

[Pipcard]

I'm the only one who actually likes this acronym.

 

[Mattyv]

...as long as the mission's patch prominently includes a picture of a glass of orange juice.

 

[Unstung]

Is this the first time you guys have heard of the acronym? Plenty of acronyms for missions are pretty ridiculous, but this one may be relevant (juice as in water).

Anyways, because JUICE is being approved, I'm unsure of the state of NGO (LISA):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_Vision#Large_missions_.28L.29

 

[TMac3000]

I'm the only one who actually likes this acronym.

Actually, I think it's kind of cool. Very...different

 

[boogabooga]

Juice-

A worn-out nickname since 1995.

 

[MattBaker]

...as long as the mission's patch prominently includes a picture of a glass of orange juice.

No, tomato juice! I've read about a study that said tomato juice is one of the most favorite beverages in airplanes, while it's quite unpopular on the ground. Or instead of Lego figures they could send a juice box with the Probe:lol:

 

[TMac3000]

Launch it with a V-8 rocket

 

[orb]

Space News: NASA Plans $100 Million Contribution to ESA’s JUICE Mission:

WASHINGTON — NASA plans to make a $100 million science contribution to the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) program, a large-scale science mission launching to the Jupiter system in 2022 to observe the gas giant and its moons.

U.S. science teams are free to propose as either principal investigators supplying instruments or instrument components, or as co-investigators on European science teams that provide their own instruments, said Jim Green, NASA’s director of NASA’s planetary science division. Proposed science, which will be formally solicited June 28, is limited to a $100 million lifecycle cost.

“The idea would be that we would solicit U.S. investigations,” Green said in a June 15 phone interview. “Those would be either principal investigations that may or may not have European partners, and U.S. participation on European instruments.”

NASA announced its intention to participate in JUICE June 15 in a presolicitation notice posted online. The U.S. space agency was expected to make some kind of contribution to the project, which was officially selected as ESA’s next large-scale science mission on May 2. ESA has capped its financial contribution to JUICE at 870 million euros.

Teams interested in submitting a proposal for the NASA contribution to JUICE must notify the agency of their intent by Aug. 2. Finished proposals are due Sept. 20, according to NASA’s June 15 notice.

NASA will award funding “some time in fiscal year 2013,” Green said. “Late in 2013 we’ll have funding available to start the contracts and start the process.”

{...}

 

[orb]

ESA:
ESA chooses instruments for its Jupiter icy moons explorer

21 February 2013

The JUpiter ICy moons Explorer mission, JUICE, will carry a total of 11 scientific experiments to study the gas giant planet and its large ocean-bearing moons, ESA announced today.

JUICE is the first Large-class mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 programme. Planned for launch in 2022 and arrival at Jupiter in 2030, it will spend at least three years making detailed observations of the biggest planet in the Solar System and three of its largest moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.

These moons are thought to harbour vast water oceans beneath their icy surfaces and JUICE will map their surfaces, sound their interiors and assess their potential for hosting life in their oceans.

Today, ESA’s Science Programme Committee approved a complement of instruments that includes cameras and spectrometers, a laser altimeter and an ice-penetrating radar. The mission will also carry a magnetometer, plasma and particle monitors, and radio science hardware.

The instruments will be developed by scientific teams from 15 European countries, the US and Japan, through corresponding national funding.

“The selection of JUICE’s instruments is a key milestone in ESA’s flagship mission to the outer Solar System, which represents an unprecedented opportunity to showcase leading European technological and scientific expertise,” says Alvaro Giménez Cañete, ESA’s Director of Science and Robotic Exploration.

“The suite of instruments addresses all of the mission’s science goals, from in-situ measurements of Jupiter’s vast magnetic field and plasma environment, to remote observations of the surfaces and interiors of the three icy moons,” adds Luigi Colangeli, coordinator of ESA’s Solar System Missions.

Throughout its mission, JUICE will observe Jupiter’s atmosphere and magnetosphere, and the interaction of all four Galilean satellites – the three icy moons plus Io – with the gas giant planet.

The spacecraft will perform a dozen flybys of Callisto, the most heavily cratered object in the Solar System, and will fly past Europa twice in order to make the first measurements of the thickness of its icy crust.

JUICE will end up in orbit around Ganymede, where it will study the moon’s icy surface and internal structure, including its subsurface ocean.

The largest moon in the Solar System, Ganymede is the only one known to generate its own magnetic field, and JUICE will observe the unique magnetic and plasma interactions with Jupiter’s magnetosphere in detail.

“Jupiter and its icy moons constitute a kind of mini-Solar System in their own right, offering European scientists and our international partners the chance to learn more about the formation of potentially habitable worlds around other stars,” says Dmitrij Titov, ESA’s JUICE Study Scientist.

The selection of the instruments today helps to ensure that JUICE remains on schedule for launch in 2022.

{...}

 

[Artlav]

Ten years to launch, 8-10 years more till results are in.
An entire generation will change, many of the people working on it now won't be around any more.

Why so slow?
I understand the transit time, but why does it take a decade to make and launch this thing?
Same thing about the old proposed JIMO - 2004 start of design, 2017 expected launch.

 

[Urwumpe]

Why so slow?

As sad as it is: No bucks, no Buck Rogers.

The ESA budget is too small for the number of projects that are pursued in parallel. But reducing the number of projects is politically impossible to achieve.

Thus, the money available every year for the JUICE project is essentially peanuts and can only be used for a small number of subprojects.

If you would reduce the number of projects and provide more funding for the necessary subprojects, you could develop one mission much faster. If all subprojects that can be started (all prerequisites satified) would be funded, you could develop such a mission in about 3 years. Even the car industry needs such timescales for their projects despite having the WAY bigger budget, because some tasks simply need their time.

 

[Artlav]

So, why can't some billionaire donate a billion or ten to NASA or ESA?
Or is the intersection of space flights enthusiasts and billionaires a null set so far?