ESA JUICE Mission

[FighterJock]

Excellent news, good to see that Juice is looking healthy and set for the long flight to Jupiter.

 

[Flyaway]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1672144976564613121

View: https://twitter.com/esa_juice/status/1672144976564613121

Bip bip ️ Three telescopes on Earth have begun monitoring radio signals from #ESAJuice.

The telescopes are part of Juice’s PRIDE experiment; they are being 'tuned up', ready for the spacecraft’s journey to and around Jupiter astron.nl/dailyimage/mai…

Here’s the evidence: a signal emitted by Juice at a frequency of about 8435.9 MHz (the spike in the centre of the main graph) was picked up by the Hobart, Yarragadee and Katherine telescopes in Australia with the strength and stability we expected (coloured lines in the inset).

https://twitter.com/x/status/1672144982096986112

View: https://twitter.com/esa_juice/status/1672144982096986112

These telescopes are part of the Earth-based PRIDE network – Juice’s Planetary Radio Interferometry and Doppler Experiment (PRIDE).

By combining signals received by radio telescopes around the world, PRIDE will measure Juice's position and velocity in space very precisely

PRIDE’s measurements will support Juice's onboard instruments.

They will also contribute to the mission’s scientific goals by telling us about the movement of Jupiter's icy moons and helping us get a clearer picture of what they look like and how they work

https://twitter.com/x/status/1672144988287692800

View: https://twitter.com/esa_juice/status/1672144988287692800

PRIDE is co-led by @jivevlbi and @tudelft, both based in the Netherlands

In total over 40 telescopes are involved, including the three in Australia operated by @UTAS_.

#ESAJuice is possible thanks to a huge international effort esa.int/ESA_Multimedia…

 

[Flyaway]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1725562248414765076

View: https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/1725562248414765076

.@ESA_Juice has just used up ~10% of its entire fuel supply in only 43 minutes in the largest engine burn that it will carry out between launch in 2023 and arrival at #Jupiter in 2031.

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Juice burns hard towards first-ever Earth-Moon flyby

www.esa.int

 

[FighterJock]

So how much fuel does Juice currently have considering the fact that it had a big burn? But it is good news that it is on track to arrive at Jupiter and Europa in 2031. Let's see if Juice has enough fuel left over to carry out the main mission.

 

[Flyaway]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1735216813091193230

View: https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/1735216813091193230

ESA's Juice mission recently carried out one of the largest engine-powered manoeuvres in its 8-year journey to #Jupiter.

At #MissionControl, we often split large manoeuvres like this into two parts. That way, we can use the second, smaller manoeuvre to iron out any errors from the first.

But the first engine burn on 17 November was so accurate that no correction was necessary and the second, smaller burn was carried out smoothly on 1 December.

“It worked like a charm,” said @ESA_JUICE Spacecraft Operations Manager, Ignacio Tanco.

Juice is now on course to carry out the first-ever Earth-Moon double flyby in August 2024.

More info:

Juice burns hard towards first-ever Earth-Moon flyby

www.esa.int

 

[Flyaway]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1735309949272465799

View: https://twitter.com/esa_juice/status/1735309949272465799

Time for another visit to the #ESAJuice bar

At 8⃣% of the way to Jupiter, we have an update on our journey. We had been considering slightly diverting Juice to visit an asteroid en route to #Jupiter. To maximise fuel for our main mission (the tour around the gas giant and its icy moons), we have decided against this asteroid flyby.