The European Space Agency (ESA) announced a problem with the “Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer” (Juice). Two weeks after the successful launch of the European Jupiter probe Juice, a radar antenna intended to penetrate the ice of Jupiter’s moons has not yet been deployed as planned. The device had not yet come loose from its holder. The most credible hypothesis is “that a tiny stuck pin” prevents the release of the antenna.
Despite this issue, the teams in the mission control center in Darmstadt, together with partners from science and industry, have “a lot of ideas up their sleeve.” Each day, the Rime antenna is showing more signs of movement. The instrument is now partially extended, but has only unfolded to a third of its full intended length. If the leading assumption is correct, a movement of a few millimeters could be enough to uncover the rest of the antenna.
The next steps to fully deploy the antenna include an engine launch to shake the spacecraft a bit, followed by a series of rotations that will spin Juice and warm up the mount and radar. Both are currently in the cold shadow. Rime could then study the surface and subsurface structure of Jupiter’s icy moons Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede to a depth of 9 kilometers.
Juicy won’t reach the giant planet until 2031. The way to get there involves detours, including flybys of Earth and our moon as well as Venus using gravity. Researchers assume that the moons to be inspected could harbor subterranean oceans and possibly life. Corresponding evidence is one of the main goals of the mission, which costs around 1.6 billion euros.
After the successful deployment and operation of the mission-critical solar cells on an area of 85 square meters, another central antenna and the 10.6-meter-long magnetometer boom, “Juice is otherwise showing excellent performance,” the ESA is otherwise satisfied. The public will be kept informed of further developments.
