Jupiter's Moons Are About To Get JUICE'd For Signs of Life (popsci.com) 27
The European Space Agency will soon send JUICE, or the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer on a mission to scout out Jupiter and three of its 79 moons: Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede. From a report: Scheduled to launch in April 2023, JUICE will blast off from an Ariane 5 rocket before embarking on a 7.6-year journey to reach the gas giant. Broken up by multiple gravitational assists -- or pushes that help adjust a spacecraft's speed and trajectory -- from Venus and Earth, the explorer will carry some of the most powerful remote sensing and geophysical instruments ever flown to the outer solar system.
Last month, a 1:18 scale model of JUICE was employed at the ESA's testing center in the Netherlands to try out one of the instruments, RIME, also known as the Radar For Icy Moons Exploration. RIME will use ice-penetrating radar and a 52-foot-long antennae to map the subsurface structure of these moons, up to about 5.6 miles down. To test, the model was placed in a chamber lined with metal walls that blocked incoming radio signals and black, spiky foam coating that absorbed internal radio signals, or outgoing transmissions. This dichotomy helped the JUICE team simulate both the vast emptiness of space and the challenges the craft could run into during the mission.
Last month, a 1:18 scale model of JUICE was employed at the ESA's testing center in the Netherlands to try out one of the instruments, RIME, also known as the Radar For Icy Moons Exploration. RIME will use ice-penetrating radar and a 52-foot-long antennae to map the subsurface structure of these moons, up to about 5.6 miles down. To test, the model was placed in a chamber lined with metal walls that blocked incoming radio signals and black, spiky foam coating that absorbed internal radio signals, or outgoing transmissions. This dichotomy helped the JUICE team simulate both the vast emptiness of space and the challenges the craft could run into during the mission.
Fund Europa Lander you ninnies! (Score:5, Insightful)
NASA's 2021 fiscal year budget in Congress's Omnibus Spending Bill did not include any language mandating or funding the Europa Lander as previous bills making the mission likely to get canceled.
We need a lander on Europa, there will be an amazing dirty icy landscape perhaps with organic chemicals that are precursors to life, if not actual microbiotic life. Write your congressman, tell your momma to call too. Without public support the Lander will not get funded. We need a Europa lander, an orbiter will not be much more useful. We already have pictures of Europa from far. I need surface landscape pictures.
Re: (Score:1)
Because the hubris of science gave us a worldwide pandemic, which required yet more scientists to create a vaccine for the benefit of the drug companies.
Re: (Score:2)
Ok, crazy person.
Re: (Score:2)
If it wasn't for science, we'd have no vaccines, and we'd be looking at a hell of a lot more than the 5 million dead we have.
Science did not create this virus. Nature did. But only science can stop the damn thing. And yes, that means Vaccines.
Fortunately the vaccines we have are extremely safe and surprisingly effective (Even with Omicron, the efficacy of 2 doses and a booster is similar to that of the Smallpox vaccine, and that managed to make smallpox go exinct.). You can thank science for that.
Re: (Score:2)
If you threw a rock through my windshield, and then charged the government to replace my windshield, even if you did so at no cost to me, and did a good job in a timely manner, I still would not consider you a trustworthy person.
In a criminal trial, where guilt must be established beyond a reasonable doubt, I believe the scientists at the Wuhan institute would be found not guilty. I don't think it can be established to that degree of certainty that they were responsible. However, in a civil case, where
Re: Fund Europa Lander you ninnies! (Score:2)
No it is not the most plausible explanation. The only theory that halfway makes sense but is still likely false is that someone at the Wuhan lab sampled some animal and then got infected with it and spread it. This coronavirus virus strain spike protein has nothing special other than a slightly different spike protein. News flash all virus species have some differences that is why they are called species. The furin cleavage site that supposedly adds to its potency is found in a lot of other coronaviruses ma
Re: (Score:2)
“All these worlds are yours. Except Europa. Attempt no landing there.”
Re: Fund Europa Lander you ninnies! (Score:2)
If Jupiter becomes a star, we find a monolith, or the probe starts acting sentient then yeah. The other side of the deal is we should be given a monoliths.
Obligatory reference (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Can it's launch vehicle have a white bronco painted on its side?
Re: (Score:2)
That makes me sad. Alex. *CRIES*
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
Whoever modded this down needs punched in the genitals while having their nerd card removed.
Launch delay (Score:2)
Re: Launch delay (Score:2)
What is it with the moronic headlines? (Score:2)
Is the emergency backup crew currently running slashdot or what?
Re: (Score:2)
Lander McLandyFace (Score:4, Insightful)
But "JUpiter ICy moons Explorer" with an acronym of JUICE is apparently an okay name.
I want any aliens that find our space trash to be so befuddled that they have to come to Earth to ask us about it.
Soon ? (Score:2)
"Scheduled to launch in April 2023"
Doesn't seem that soon to me
Trip time (Score:2)
Adding in the trip time, the Juice's arrival will be over 10 years from now. What kind of expiration date does this even have?
Seven and a half years?? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
For comparison: the Galileo probe took a freakin' Shuttle launch, two gravity assists, and six years to reach Jupiter; Cassini used a Delta-V Heavy, four gravity assists, and six years to reach Saturn. Each Voya