(ESA / ATG Medialab https://bit.ly/3leHuY8)
The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced that the new JUICE spacecraft is fully ready for launch, which is scheduled for April this year.
The mission will go to the Jupiter system, where it will study the gas giant and its three largest satellites: Ganymede, Europa and Callisto.
JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) has been developed by the ESA since 2012 as part of the Cosmic Vision program as a large class project.
The task of the spacecraft will be a comprehensive study of the Jupiter system, in particular the atmosphere and magnetosphere of the giant and its interaction with its large satellites.
For the first time, the device will study in detail Jupiter's moon Ganymede, determine its internal structure and the presence of a subsurface ocean.
The ship will also observe the satellites Callisto and Europa, which have subsurface oceans too.
The payload of the station consists of 11 scientific instruments built by scientific teams from Europe, the USA and Japan:
- spectrographs
- cameras
- a radio interferometer
- a radar instrument
- a laser altimeter
- a magnetometer
- devices for detecting charged particles, plasma waves and radio waves
- an instrument for studying the gravitational fields
The station will be powered by two huge solar panels with a total area of 85 square meters.
It took Airbus 8 years to develop the device, of which the last 1.5 years were taken up by the assembly and complex testing of the station.
At the final stage of assembly, a memorial plaque was installed on JUICE in honor of Galileo Galilei, who first saw Jupiter and its four largest moons through a telescope.
READY TO FLY
In December last year, thermal vacuum tests of the station were completed, and in mid-January, tests of the ship control system were completed.
On January 18, 2023, the qualification commission recognized the station as ready for flight into space and approved its dispatch to the spaceport.
The launch of JUICE is scheduled for April 5-30 this year using the Ariane-5 heavy launch vehicle from the Kourou launch site in French Guiana.
The station will reach the Jupiter system in July 2031, having made several gravitational maneuvers before that, and in December 2034 it will enter orbit around Ganymede.
The scientific program is designed for 3.5 years, after which the station will crash on the surface of Ganymede.
Sources:
- Spacenews: https://spacenews.com/europes-jupiter-bound-juice-spacecraft-is-ready-for-april-launch/
- Space.com: https://www.space.com/juice-jupiter-moons-mission-launch-target-april-14
Wanna save your links for later?
Try this new tool: https://bit.ly/3Wb8Mwe
Thank you, friend!
I'm @steem.history, who is steem witness.
Thank you for witnessvoting for me.
please click it!
(Go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses and type fbslo at the bottom of the page)
The weight is reduced because of the lack of Voting Power. If you vote for me as a witness, you can get my little vote.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Upvoted! Thank you for supporting witness @jswit.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit