https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/244571/imperial-led-jupiter-bound-instrument-successfully-deployed/JUICE launched on 14 April 2023, and one week later on the 21 April, the 10.6-metre boom was unfolded and the magnetometer instrument – J-MAG – was switched on. Data collected by J-MAG captured the moment of deployment.
The J-MAG instrument will be crucial for JUICE’s mission to characterise the oceans expected to be found beneath the outer icy crusts of three of Jupiter’s moons – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa – and determine whether they might be able to support life.
Although JUICE will take around eight years to get to the Jupiter system, the early deployment of the instrument is an important milestone for the feasibility of the mission.
| Launch mass | 6,070 kg (13,380 lb) |
|---|---|
| Dry mass | 2,420 kg (5,340 lb) |
| Power | 850 watts from a solar panel ~85 m2 |
|---|
IndeedDrakkith said:Seems like it is a quite common issue.
https://phys.org/news/2023-05-stuck-antenna-freed-jupiter-bound-spacecraft.htmlFlight controllers in Germany freed the 52-foot (16-meter) antenna Friday after nearly a month of effort.
The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, nicknamed Juice, blasted off in April on a decade-long voyage. Soon after launch, a tiny pin refused to budge and prevented the antenna from fully opening.
Controllers tried shaking and warming the spacecraft to get the pin to move by just millimeters. Back-to-back jolts finally did the trick.
The radar antenna will peer deep beneath the icy crust of three Jupiter moons suspected of harboring underground oceans and possibly life. Those moons are Callisto, Europa and Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system.
I presume this is because they have to survive fairly brutal g-forces during launch, and then operate in a vacuum where your WD40 evaporates instantly, and that there are a lot of moving parts so even a fairly low failure rate is likely to bite somewhere (c.f. the Birthday problem)?mfb said:All moving components in spacecraft are difficult. If they are well-contained, like gyroscopes, they tend to be somewhat reliable (but still often the first components to fail) - but large antennas, tethers and similar stuff need to be deployed after launch so they are always risky.
That would require an aircraft and you'd get about 40 seconds of zero-g at a time.Dullard said:Why doesn't someone build a zero-g test chamber?
And the parachute rigging would have to account for both a deployment success and a failure.Drakkith said:That would require an aircraft and you'd get about 40 seconds of zero-g at a time.
The JUICE mission aims to study the icy moons of Jupiter, including Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto, in order to understand their potential for hosting life and to gain insights into the formation and evolution of the Jupiter system.
JUICE is traveling to Jupiter using a combination of gravity assists and a main engine burn. It will make flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mars to gain speed and trajectory towards Jupiter, and then use its main engine to enter orbit around the gas giant.
JUICE carries a suite of 10 instruments, including cameras, spectrometers, and a radar, to study the icy moons of Jupiter. These instruments will help scientists gather data on the moons' composition, geology, and potential for hosting life.
The JUICE mission is expected to last around 7 years, including the journey to Jupiter and the time spent in orbit around the planet and its moons. However, there is a possibility for the mission to be extended if the spacecraft remains operational and there is still scientific value in continuing the mission.
The JUICE mission has the potential to greatly increase our understanding of the icy moons of Jupiter and their potential for hosting life. The data and images gathered by JUICE will also help us gain insights into the formation and evolution of the Jupiter system, which can provide valuable information for understanding other planetary systems in our galaxy.