JUICE Archives

September 5, 2024September 9, 2024 by Matt Williams

Ouch! A Monster Asteroid Crashed Into Ganymede 4 Billion Years Ago, Rolling it Over

Artist's impression of the large impact that caused Ganymede to reorient itself 4 billion years ago. © HIRATA Naoyuki

Jupiter’s moon, Ganymede, is a fascinating celestial body. Measuring 5,268 km (3,272 mi) in diameter, it is also the largest satellite in the Solar System and even larger than Mercury, which measures 4,880 km (3,032 mi) in diameter. Like Europa, it has an interior ocean and is one of the few bodies in the Solar System (other than the gas giants) with an intrinsic magnetic field. The presence of this field also means Ganymede experiences aurorae circling the regions around its northern and southern poles due to interaction with Jupiter’s magnetic field.

In addition, based on its surface craters, scientists believe that Ganymede experienced a powerful impact with an asteroid about 4 billion years ago. This asteroid was about 20 times larger than the Chicxulub asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, or the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (ca. 66 million years ago). According to a recent study by Naoyuki Hirata of Kobe University, this impact occurred almost precisely on the meridian farthest away from Jupiter. This caused a reorientation of Ganymede’s rotational axis and allowed Hirata to determine exactly what type of impact took place.

August 27, 2024August 27, 2024 by Evan Gough

Is There a Low-Radiation Path To Europa?

This artist's rendering shows NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch in October, 2024. It'll have to contend with Jupiter's powerful radiation. Will a newly-found low-radiation path to Europa help? Image Credit: NASA/JPL

Any mission to Jupiter and its moons must contend with the gas giant’s overwhelming radiation. Only a judicious orbital pattern and onboard protective measures can keep a spacecraft safe. Even then, the powerful radiation dictates a mission’s lifespan.

However, researchers may have found a way to approach at least one of Jupiter’s moons without confronting that radiation.

August 16, 2024August 16, 2024 by David Dickinson

See JUICE Next Week During Its Earth-Moon Flyby

Well-placed observers have a rare opportunity to see an interplanetary spacecraft early next week.

If skies are clear, dedicated observers and imagers have a shot early next week at seeing a spacecraft headed to Jupiter.

The Mission is JUICE, the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer. Launched atop an Ariane-5 rocket from Kourou Space Center in French Guiana on April 14^th, 2023, JUICE is due to arrive at Jupiter in 2031. But first, the spacecraft will perform several planetary flybys to pick up speed, hurdling it towards the outer solar system.

March 21, 2024March 21, 2024 by Laurence Tognetti

Europa Might Not Be Able to Support Life in its Oceans

Natural color image of Europa obtained by NASA's Juno spacecraft. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill)

Can Europa’s massive, interior ocean contain the building blocks of life, and even support life as we know it? This question is at the forefront of astrobiology discussions as scientists continue to debate the possibility for habitability on Jupiter’s icy moon. However, a recent study presented at the 55^th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) might put a damper in hopes for finding life as a team of researchers investigate how Europa’s seafloor could be lacking in geologic activity, decreasing the likelihood of necessary minerals and nutrients from being recycled that could serve as a catalyst for life.

November 21, 2023December 4, 2023 by David Dickinson

ESA’s Juice Mission is Approaching Earth. Why Has it Come Home Before Visiting Jupiter?

JUICE Prepares for a first of its kind double-flyby next year.

A Jupiter-bound mission adjusted its course last week…for a rendezvous with Earth. The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy moons Explorer (JUICE) fired its thrusters for 43 minutes on Friday, November 17^th. This sets the mission up for a first of its kind double-flyby next year on August 23^rd, as it passes the Moon and then the Earth to pick up momentum.

November 19, 2023November 19, 2023 by Matt Williams

NASA Tests a Prototype Europa Lander

Testing Hardware for Potential Future Landing on Europa. Credit: NASA JPL-Caltech

In 2024, NASA will launch the Europa Clipper, the long-awaited orbiter mission that will fly to Jupiter (arriving in 2030) to explore its icy moon Europa. Through a series of flybys, the Clipper will survey Europa’s surface and plume activity in the hopes of spotting organic molecules and other potential indications of life (“biosignatures”). If all goes well, NASA plans to send a follow-up mission to land on the surface and examine Europa’s icy sheet and plumes more closely. This proposed mission is aptly named the Europa Lander.

While no date has been set, and the mission is still in the research phase, some significant steps have been taken to get the Europa Lander to the development phase. This past August, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California tested a prototype of this proposed landing system in a simulated environment. This system combines hardware used by previous NASA lander missions and some new elements that will enable a mission to Europa. It also could be adapted to facilitate missions to more “Ocean Worlds” and other celestial bodies in our Solar System.

May 27, 2023May 27, 2023 by Laurence Tognetti

Juice is Fully Deployed. It’s Now in its Final Form, Ready to Meet Jupiter’s Moons in 2031

Still image from a video animation of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) spacecraft. (Credit: ESA/ATG Medialab)

Launched on April 14, 2023, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice; formerly known as JUICE) spacecraft has finally completed the unfurling of its solar panel arrays and plethora of booms, probes, and antennae while en route to the solar system’s largest planet.

May 16, 2023May 16, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

Hurray! Juice Deploys its Stuck Antenna

One of the stuck parts of Juice's RIME antenna deploys. Credit: ESA/Juice mission.

ESA’s Juice mission launched last month on April 14, beginning its long journey to explore Jupiter’s icy moons, Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto. But soon after launch, mission controllers realized a 16-meter (52.5 ft)-long antenna for a radar instrument was jammed and couldn’t deploy. The Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (RIME) antenna is mission critical, as it gathers data for the instrument that will be able to map beneath the ice at these moons.

But, whew, the story has a happy ending. After nearly a month of efforts to free the stuck antenna, engineers figured out a fix for the RIME antenna. They fired a mechanical device in the jammed bracket, which created enough jiggling and rattling to allow the antenna to fully deploy.

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023 by Alan Boyle

Juice Looks Back at Earth During Its Space Odyssey to Jupiter’s Moons

Juice view of Earth — The Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden are prominent in this Earth snapshot from the JMC1 camera on the European Space Agency's Juice probe, captured a half-hour after launch on April 14. Credit: ESA / Juice / JMC, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

As the European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft headed out on an eight-year trip to Jupiter’s icy moons, it turned back to snap some selfies with Earth in the background — and those awesome shots are just the start.

The bus-sized probe is due to make four slingshot flybys of Earth and Venus to pick up some gravity-assisted boosts to its destination — and ESA mission managers plan to have the monitoring cameras running during those close encounters.

May 31, 2022May 31, 2022 by Nancy Atkinson

ESA's Juice Mission is Fully Integrated and Ready for Testing. Soon it'll fly to Space on a Mission to Jupiter's Moons

Artist's impression of the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) near Jupiter and one of its moons, Europa. Credit: ESA/AOES

Now less than one year until the projected launch date, ESA’s JUICE mission is in the final phases of development. The JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) is now fully built with all ten instruments integrated into the spacecraft bus. Next comes all-up testing in a full flight configuration.

Launch is currently scheduled for April of 2023, with the mission slated to conduct detailed investigations of Jupiter and its system of moons, focusing on Europa, Callisto and especially Ganymede.