JUICE, ESA's L-class mission to the Jovian system Options

[bobik]

This asteroid (223) Rosa fly-by opportunity should be still valid, because starting with the Venus swing-by the April 2023 launch trajectory is identical with the September 2022 launch trajectory.

Edit: New paper on the "analysis of possible asteroids flyby for the ESA JUICE mission", albeit behind paywall.

[bobik]

After a month of silence, a JUICE science instrument tweet informs us that "[t]he structural tests of the [JUICE] spacecraft are finished as well as the reduced functional tests afterwards. GALA and all other instruments are nominal." -- ESA's public outreach is so broken!

Edit (2022-07-19): Oh now, JUICE's contractor tweets a short (58 sec) video about the completed vibration and acoustic tests.

[bobik]

Juicy news from French Guiana on the launch preparation of JUICE on a controversial social-media website, although I think that it would be far easier, and a better idea to simply publish the JUICE launch campaign newsletter, as fortunately the Russian MGNS scientists did during the BepiColombo launch campaign in 2018.

[nogal]

It is easy to search the ESA website... Trying https://www.esa.int/esearch?q=JUICE yelds many, many entries.
Here is one of the latest

https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_...unch_to_Jupiter
Fernando
PS - or subscribe the news topic. Cheers

[bobik]

It is easy to search the ESA website...

If you could only find the weekly (or so) JUICE Launch Campaign Newsletter, this would be big news.

[bobik]

JUICE: All instruments are GO

[nprev]

After all these years launch day has arrived!!! T-0 scheduled for 1215 GMT.

Watch live here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZD9n9HLwswQ

More info: https://www.esa.int/.../How_to_foll...ice_launch_live

GO JUICE!!!

[john_s]

Sigh- not today. Scrubbed due to lightning risk. Will try again tomorrow, one minute earlier.

John

[Bjorn Jonsson]

So far so good. I have probably not been this excited about a planetary spacecraft launch since 1997 (Cassini).

[nprev]

Spacecraft separation and JUICE is on its way!

[Bjorn Jonsson]

Both solar arrays fully deployed, a major milestone.

[StargazeInWonder]

Great news!

Bjorn's mention of 1997 helps me frame how I, and I'm sure some others see this: Since the Galileo Orbiter, that mission's shortcomings, notably the extremely limited data rate, have created the feeling that we needed a follow-up to replace the thorough study of the Galileans that we lost. Now, though it will arrive 35 years (!) after Galileo did, this is going to be a major part of filling that gap. Combined with Europa Clipper, JUICE will far more than replace the observations we lost back in 1996-2000 as far as the three outer Galileans go.

But for now, we wait some more!

[MarcF]

I remember, back in 2007 I first posted here about a possible ESA/NASA collaboration to send several probes to explore further the Jovian system. At that time the project was called Laplace.
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=4637
Most of reactions were pessimistic (if not sarcastic).
A lot happened since and there were many changes, but finally JUICE is on its way to the Jovian system and Europa Clipper will follow soon.
These will be 2 amazing missions.

[StargazeInWonder]

Thanks for linking to the history, Marc.

While some ambitions have been postponed, the combination of Juno, JUICE, and Europa Clipper will put us one Io mission away from an excellent survey of the jovian system, at last, and ESA is on the way to doing their part.

[Bjorn Jonsson]

That was quick - images from the Juice Monitoring Cameras (JMC) have already been released. Juice's first 'selfies': https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Spa...fies_from_space