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

[Unstung]

To me it sounds wasteful to fly 7.5 years to a planet and then make only 2 flybys on the primary target. Or would that be the length of the primary mission only, with potentially many more flybys if the spacecraft lasts?

Ganymede is the primary target, which JUICE will orbit. Each Europa flyby was added later when it was found to not be too dangerous.

 

[Unstung]

SpaceNews: "Europe’s Jupiter explorer mission moves to prototype production"

The European Space Agency completed the preliminary design review for the Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer, giving a go-ahead to prime contractor Airbus and its partners to start building a prototype spacecraft to test systems for the challenging mission known simply as Juice.

The 1.5 billion-euro ($1.62 billion) mission — expected to launch on its seven-year journey in 2022 — is Europe’s first shot at exploring the solar system’s largest planet and its moons at close quarters. Giuseppe Sarri, ESA’s Juice project manager, said the 22-member space agency has never attempted a mission of this difficulty and complexity.

“Juice is certainly a step forward for ESA,” Sarri said. “To get to Jupiter, we will have to perform five flybys, which is something we haven’t done before. The environment around Jupiter is extremely harsh and we would have to make sure the spacecraft’s electronics are properly protected from the extremely high radiation, otherwise the computers could be dead in two weeks.”

ESA will contribute 940 million euros (in 2014 terms) towards the overall budget of the mission, covering the construction of the spacecraft, an Ariane 5 launch, the operations and scientific ground segment, as well as the actual running of the mission. The mission’s 10 scientific instruments, including cameras, an ice-penetrating radar, an altimeter, radio-science experiments, and sensors to monitor the magnetic field, will be paid for by the national space agencies of ESA’s member states.

[...]

 

[K_Jameson]

Can't wait to see the Justice League in action at Jupiter: JUICE + Europa Clipper.

 

[Notebook]

26 September 2017
A long radar boom that will probe below the surface of Jupiter’s icy moons has been tested on Earth with the help of a helicopter.
ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, is scheduled for launch in 2022, arriving seven years later. It will study Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere and vast magnetic fields, as well as the planet-sized moons Ganymede, Europa and Callisto. All three moons are thought to have oceans of liquid water beneath their icy crusts and should provide key clues on the potential for such bodies to harbour habitable environments.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Helicopter_test_for_Jupiter_icy_moons_radar

 

[Notebook]

16 January 2018
ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer – JUICE – passed an important milestone, the ground segment requirements review, with flying colours, demonstrating that the teams are on track in the preparation of the spacecraft operations needed to achieve the mission's ambitious science goals.

http://sci.esa.int/juice/59935-juic...t-to-start-development-of-jupiter-operations/

 

[Notebook]

07 June 2018 11:03
This is the first entry in the JUICE Test Campaign Journal, a series of articles covering the main events during testing of the Thermal Development Model (TDM), the Engineering Model (EM) and the Proto-Flight Model (PFM) of the spacecraft. The mission is scheduled to launch in 2022 to investigate the Jupiter system.

http://sci.esa.int/juice/60393-1-juice-comes-in-from-extreme-temperature-test/

 

[emin2004]

you know that Juice Probe is a part of 17776

Red=Pioneer 9

Green=Pioneer 10

Yellow=JUICE Probe

 

[Notebook]

you know that Juice Probe is a part of 17776

Red=Pioneer 9

Green=Pioneer 10

Yellow=JUICE Probe

I don't understand the question, if it is a question?

N.

 

[Xyon]

I assume in reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17776, which outlines in its premise that JUICE is indeed part of the fabric of the story, somehow.

 

[Notebook]

2 August 2019
As part of preparations for the launch of ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, its navigation camera has been given a unique test: imaging its destination from Earth.
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, will launch in 2022 on a seven-year journey to the Jupiter system. In the first mission of its kind, it will not only orbit Jupiter and make repeated flybys of the planet’s large and ocean-bearing moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, but will culminate in a dedicated orbital tour of Ganymede – the largest moon in the Solar System.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/S..._takes_first_images_of_destination_from_Earth!

 

[Notebook]

ESA’s upcoming JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft arrives at the satellite integration centre of the project’s prime contractor Airbus in Friedrichshafen, Germany, in April 2020, to undergo final integration.

http://www.esa.int/Science_Explorat..._explorer_Juice_arrives_for_final_integration

 

[N_Molson]

To me it sounds wasteful to fly 7.5 years to a planet and then make only 2 flybys on the primary target. Or would that be the length of the primary mission only, with potentially many more flybys if the spacecraft lasts?

Sadly this is the price of deep space missions. New Horizons was far worse (and still, it was - and still is - a great mission). It takes a lot of time to reach outer planets, and boosting the spacecraft speed solves nothing : it only means it will fly by sooner and faster. Gas giants are interesting targets : you can't miss their gravity well, and their complex moons systems allow unexpensive gravity-assist manoeuvers. Cassini was extremely successful doing that during a whole decade. But Hohmann transfers with gravity assists are the only way to get there, and it takes time.

 

[BrianJ]

Just a quick reminder...JUICE due to launch 13th April, 12:15:01 UTC

Info and link to launch coverage...

Juice

Arianespace's (not so easy to find!) launch press kit....

https://www.ariane.group/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/DDP_VA260-EN.pdf

Cheers,
BrianJ

 

[GLS]

It's Galileo all over again

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1651939141955772417

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1651939146569580544

 

[Gargantua2024]

Well at least JUICE's high-gain antenna is fully operational unlike Galileo's... which was almost abandoned because of it

 

[Pioneer]

It's Galileo all over again

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1651939141955772417

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1651939146569580544

Must be a curse now, like the Mars curse...

I guess the JUICE is worth the squeeze...

 

[Arvil]

It would be nice to have a small manned station in LEO at ecliptic inclination that could do final checkout and solve stuff like this before ejection burn.

 

[GLS]

It would be nice to have a small manned station in LEO at ecliptic inclination that could do final checkout and solve stuff like this before ejection burn.

But some parts need to be locked/stowed to handle the injection burn loads. Plus, instruments need deployable covers to avoid contamination during large engine burns, i.e., launch and injection. So in the end, that would only work for vessels targeting an orbit near that station.

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1657069054991925275

 

[Linguofreak]

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?

Stumbled upon this comment 10 years later. In light of the developments of the last decade, there's a certain irony to it.