850 watts from a solar panel ~85 m2 (910 sq ft)[1]
Start of mission
Launch date
14 April 2023 12:14:36 UTC [2]
Rocket
Ariane 5 ECA VA-260
Launch site
Kourou ELA-3
Contractor
Arianespace
Flyby of Moon
Closest approach
19 August 2024, 21:16 UTC
Distance
700 km (430 mi)
Flyby of Earth
Closest approach
20 August 2024, 21:57 UTC
Distance
6,807 km (4,230 mi)
Flyby of Venus
Closest approach
31 August 2025
Flyby of Earth
Closest approach
29 September 2026
Flyby of Earth
Closest approach
18 January 2029
Jupiter orbiter
Orbital insertion
July 2031 (planned)
Orbital departure
December 2034 (planned)
Ganymede orbiter
Orbital insertion
December 2034 (planned)
Orbital parameters
Periapsis altitude
500 km (310 mi)
Apoapsis altitude
500 km (310 mi)
Instruments
GALA
GAnymede Laser Altimeter
JANUS
Jovis, Amorum ac Natorum Undique Scrutator
J-MAG
JUICE-MAGnetometer
MAJIS
Moons And Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer
PEP
Particle Environment Package
RIME
Radar for Icy Moons Exploration
RPWI
Radio and Plasma Wave Investigation
SWI
Sub-millimeter Wave Instrument
UVS
UV imaging Spectrograph
3GM
Gravity and Geophysics of Jupiter and Galilean Moons
JUICE mission insignia
Cosmic Vision
← Euclid
SMILE →
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice, formerly JUICE[3]) is an interplanetary spacecraft on its way to orbit and study three icy moons of Jupiter: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. These planetary-mass moons are planned to be studied because they are thought to have beneath their frozen surfaces significant bodies of liquid water, which would make them potentially habitable for extraterrestrial life.[4][5]
The mission, started as a reformulation of the Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter proposal, which was to be ESA's component of the cancelled Europa Jupiter System Mission – Laplace (EJSM-Laplace).[10] It became a candidate for the first L-class mission (L1) of the ESA Cosmic Vision Programme, and its selection was announced on 2 May 2012.[11]
By 2023, the mission was estimated to cost ESA 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion).[15]
Spacecraft
The main spacecraft design drivers are related to the large distance to the Sun, the use of solar power, and Jupiter's harsh radiation environment. The orbit insertions at Jupiter and Ganymede and the large number of flyby manoeuvres (more than 25 gravity assists, and two Europa flybys) require the spacecraft to carry about 3,000 kg (6,600 lb) of chemical propellant.[16] The total delta-V capability of the spacecraft is about 2,700 m/s (6,000 mph).[17]
Juice has a fixed 2.5 meter diameter high-gain antenna and a steerable medium-gain antenna, both X- and K-band will be used. Downlink rates of 2 Gb/day are possible with ground-based Deep Space Antennas. On-board data storage capability is 1.25 Tb.[1]
Juice inside Airbus Defence and Space Astrolabe facilities, 2023
The Juice main engine is a hypergolic bi-propellant (mono-methyl hydrazine and mixed oxides of nitrogen) 425 N thruster. A 100 kg multilayer insulation provides thermal control. The spacecraft is 3-axis stabilized using momentum wheels. Radiation shielding is used to protect onboard electronics from the Jovian environment[1] (the required radiation tolerance is 50 kilorad at equipment level[17]).
The Juice science payload has a mass of 280 kg and includes the JANUS camera system, the MAJIS visible and infrared imaging spectrometer, the UVS ultraviolet imaging spectrograph, RIME radar sounder, GALA laser altimeter, SWI submillimetre wave instrument, J-MAG magnetometer, PEP particle and plasma package, RPWI radio and plasma wave investigation, 3GM radio science package, the PRIDE radio science instrument, and the RADEM radiation monitor. A 10.6-meter deployable boom will hold J-MAG and RPWI, a 16-meter-long deployable antenna will be used for RIME. Four 3-meter booms carry parts of the RPWI instrument. The other instruments are mounted on the spacecraft body, or for 3GM, within the spacecraft bus.[1]
Timeline
Launch
Ariane 5 launch of the ESA Juice spacecraft
Juice was launched into space on 14 April 2023 from the Guiana Space Centre on an Ariane 5 rocket. This was the final launch of an ESA science mission using the Ariane 5 vehicle,[18] and was the second to last launch of the rocket overall.[19]
The launch was originally scheduled for 13 April 2023, but due to poor weather the launch was postponed.[20] The next day a second launch attempt succeeded, with liftoff occurring at 12:14:36 UTC. After the spacecraft separated from the rocket, it established a successful radio signal connection with the ground at 13:04 UTC. Juice's solar arrays were deployed about half an hour later, prompting ESA to deem the launch a success.[18]
Trajectory
Following the launch, there will be multiple planned gravity assists to put Juice on a trajectory to Jupiter: a flyby of the Earth–Moon system in August 2024, Venus in August 2025, second flyby of Earth in September 2026, and a third and final flyby of Earth in January 2029.[8]
Juice will pass through the asteroid belt twice. A flyby of the asteroid 223 Rosa was proposed to occur in October 2029, but was abandoned to save fuel for the primary Jovian mission.[21][22][23]
Gravity assists include:[24]
Interplanetary transfer (Earth, Venus, Earth, Earth)[18]
Jupiter orbit insertion and apocentre reduction with multiple Ganymede gravity assists
Reduction of velocity with Ganymede–Callisto assists
Increase inclination with 10–12 Callisto gravity assists
Sun· Earth· Juice· Venus·223 Rosa· Jupiter· Ganymede· Callisto · Europa
Summary of intended Jupiter mission phases
The main characteristics of the Jupiter reference tour are summarised below (source: Table 5-2 of ESA/SRE(2014)1[17]). This scenario assumed an early June 2022 launch, however, the delta-V requirements are representative due to the rather short, repetitive orbital configurations of Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
When it arrives in the Jovian system in July 2031,[8] Juice will first perform a 400 km (250 mi) Ganymede gravity assist flyby to reduce spacecraft velocity by ~300 m/s (670 mph), followed by ~900 m/s (2,000 mph) Jupiter orbit insertion engine burn ~7.5 hours later. Finally, a Perijove Raising Manoeuvre (PRM) burn at apoapsis will raise the periapsis of JUICE's initial 13x243 Jovian radii elongated orbit to match that of Ganymede (15 Rj).
186 days
952 m/s (2,130 mph).
2nd Ganymede flyby to initial encounter with Callisto: 2nd, 3rd and 4th Ganymede flyby to reduce the orbital period and inclination of JUICE's orbit, followed by 1st flyby of Callisto.
193 days
27 m/s (60 mph).
Europa phase: Starting in July 2032,[8] there will be two <400 km (250 mi) flybys of Europa followed by another Callisto flyby. The brief Europa encounters (during which the probe is expected to sustain a third of its lifetime radiation exposure[25]) are planned such that the radiation exposure is as low as possible, first by encountering Europa at perijove (i.e. the spacecraft's perijove is equal to Europa’s orbital radius), and second by having only one low perijove passage per Europa flyby.
35 days
30 m/s (67 mph).
Inclined phase: ~6 further flybys of Callisto and Ganymede to temporarily increase the orbital inclination to 22 degrees. This will allow investigating Jupiter's polar regions and Jupiter's magnetosphere[8] at the maximum inclination over a four-month period.
208 days
13 m/s (29 mph).
Transfer to Ganymede: A series of Callisto and Ganymede gravity assists will be performed to gradually reduce JUICE's speed by 1,600 m/s (3,600 mph). Finally, a series of distant ~45,000 km (28,000 mi) flybys of the far side of Ganymede (near the Jupiter-Ganymede-L2 Lagrange point) will further reduce the required orbital insertion delta-V by 500 m/s (1,100 mph).
353 days
60 m/s (130 mph).
Ganymede orbital phase: In December 2034,[8] Juice will enter an initial 12-hour polar orbit around Ganymede after performing a 185 m/s (410 mph) delta-V braking burn. Jupiter gravitational perturbations will gradually reduce the minimum orbital altitude to 500 km (310 mi) after ~100 days. The spacecraft will then perform two major engine firings to enter a nearly circular 500 km (310 mi) polar orbit, for a further six months of observations (e.g. Ganymede's composition and magnetosphere). At the end of 2035,[8] Jupiter perturbations will cause JUICE to impact on Ganymede within weeks as the spacecraft runs out of propellant.
284 days
614 m/s (1,370 mph).
Full tour (Jupiter orbit insertion to end of mission)
1259 days
1,696 m/s (3,790 mph).
Science objectives
Ganymede view by the Galileo spacecraftSection of Europa's icy surface
The JUICE orbiter will perform detailed investigations on Ganymede and evaluate its potential to support life. Investigations of Europa and Callisto will complete a comparative picture of these Galilean moons.[26] The three moons are thought to harbour internal liquid water oceans, and so are central to understanding the habitability of icy worlds.
The main science objectives for Ganymede, and to a lesser extent for Callisto, are:[26]
Characterization of the ocean layers and detection of putative subsurface water reservoirs
Study of the physical properties of the icy crusts
Characterization of the internal mass distribution, dynamics and evolution of the interiors
Investigation of Ganymede's tenuous atmosphere
Study of Ganymede's intrinsic magnetic field and its interactions with the Jovian magnetosphere.
For Europa, the focus is on the chemistry essential to life, including organic molecules, and on understanding the formation of surface features and the composition of the non-water-ice material. Furthermore, JUICE will provide the first subsurface sounding of the moon, including the first determination of the minimal thickness of the icy crust over the most recently volcanically active regions.
More distant spatially resolved observations will also be carried out for several minor irregular satellites and the volcanically active moon Io.
Science instruments
JUICE instrumentsTesting a 1:18 scale model of Juice's RIME antenna in the Hertz facility, 2023
On 21 February 2013, after a competition, 11 science instruments were selected by ESA, which were developed by science and engineering teams from all over Europe, with participation from the US.[27][28][29][30] Japan also contributed several components for SWI, RPWI, GALA, PEP, JANUS and J-MAG instruments, and will facilitate testing.[31][32][33]
Jovis, Amorum ac Natorum Undique Scrutator (JANUS)
The name is Latin for "comprehensive observation of Jupiter, his love affairs and descendants."[34] It is a camera system to image Ganymede and interesting parts of the surface of Callisto at better than 400 m/pixel (resolution limited by mission data volume). Selected targets will be investigated in high-resolution with a spatial resolution from 25 m/pixel down to 2.4 m/pixel with a 1.3° field of view. The camera system has 13 panchromatic, broad and narrow-band filters in the 0.36 μm to 1.1 μm range, and provides stereo imaging capabilities. JANUS will also allow relating spectral, laser and radar measurements to geomorphology and thus will provide the overall geological context.
Moons and Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer (MAJIS)
A visible and infrared imaging spectrograph operating from 400 nm to 5.70 μm, with spectral resolution of 3–7 nm, that will observe tropospheric cloud features and minor gas species on Jupiter and will investigate the composition of ices and minerals on the surfaces of the icy moons. The spatial resolution will be down to 75 m (246 ft) on Ganymede and about 100 km (62 mi) on Jupiter.
UV Imaging Spectrograph (UVS)
An imaging spectrograph operating in the wavelength range 55–210 nm with spectral resolution of <0.6 nm that will characterise exospheres and aurorae of the icy moons, including plume searches on Europa, and study the Jovian upper atmosphere and aurorae. Resolution up to 500 m (1,600 ft) observing Ganymede and up to 250 km (160 mi) observing Jupiter.
Sub-millimeter Wave Instrument (SWI)
A spectrometer using a 30 cm (12 in) antenna and working in 1080–1275 GHz and 530–601 GHz with spectral resolving power of ~107 that will study Jupiter's stratosphere and troposphere, and the exospheres and surfaces of the icy moons.
Ganymede Laser Altimeter (GALA)
A laser altimeter with a 20 m (66 ft) spot size and 10 cm (3.9 in) vertical resolution at 200 km (120 mi) intended for studying topography of icy moons and tidal deformations of Ganymede.
Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (RIME)
The RIME antenna in stowed configuration. A "selfie" photograph, shortly after launch by the Juice monitoring camera 2 (JMC2), with Earth in the background
An ice-penetrating radar working at frequency of 9 MHz (1 and 3 MHz bandwidth) emitted by a 16 m (52 ft) antenna; will be used to study the subsurface structure of Jovian moons down to 9 km (5.6 mi) depth with vertical resolution up to 30 m (98 ft) in ice.
During post-launch commissioning of the spacecraft, the RIME antenna failed to properly deploy from its mounting bracket.[35] After several weeks of attempts to free the instrument, it was successfully deployed on 12 May of the same year.[36]
JUICE-Magnetometer (J-MAG)
The scalar sub-instrument (MAGSCA), an optical magnetometer with low absolute error, is part of J-MAG
JUICE will study the subsurface oceans of the icy moons and the interaction of Jovian magnetic field with the magnetic field of Ganymede using a sensitive magnetometer.
Particle Environment Package (PEP)
A suite of six sensors to study the magnetosphere of Jupiter and its interactions with the Jovian moons. PEP will measure positive and negative ions, electrons, exospheric neutral gas, thermal plasma and energetic neutral atoms present in all domains of the Jupiter system from 1 meV to 1 MeV energy.
Radio and Plasma Wave Investigation (RPWI)
RPWI will characterise the plasma environment and radio emissions around the spacecraft, it is composed of four experiments: GANDALF, MIME, FRODO and JENRAGE. RPWI will use four Langmuir probes, each one mounted at the end of its own dedicated boom and sensitive up to 1.6 MHz, to characterize plasma, and receivers in the frequency range 80 kHz to 45 MHz to measure radio emissions.[37] This scientific instrument is somewhat notable for using Sonic the Hedgehog as part of its logo.[38][39]
Gravity and Geophysics of Jupiter and Galilean Moons (3GM)
3GM is a radio science package comprising a Ka transponder and an ultrastable oscillator.[40] 3GM will be used to study the gravity field – up to degree 10 – at Ganymede and the extent of internal oceans on the icy moons, and to investigate the structure of the neutral atmospheres and ionospheres of Jupiter (0.1 – 800 mbar) and its moons. 3GM carries Israeli-built atomic clock "that will measure tiny vacillations in a radio beam".[41][42]
Planetary Radio Interferometer and Doppler Experiment (PRIDE)
The experiment will generate specific signals transmitted by JUICE's antenna and received by very-long-baseline interferometry to perform precision measurements of the gravity fields of Jupiter and its icy moons.
17776, a speculative fiction work featuring a sapient JUICE
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External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to JUICE (spacecraft).
ESA's JUICE page
Future Planetary Exploration JUICE – Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter Revised Proposal
Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (2011) (OPAG October 2011 Presentations)
JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) (OPAG March 2012 Presentations)
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).