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PRIDE contribution to the ESA JUICE space mission by the University of Tasmania

Presented by:

Guifré Molera Calves

Guifré Molera Calvés

University of Tasmania

 

Giuseppe Cimo

JIVE

 

Leonid Gurvits

JIVE

 

Noor Masdiana Said

JIVE

 

Tatiana Bocanegra-Bahamon

JPL

 

Dominic Dirkx

University of Delft

 

Marie Fayolle-Chambe

University of Delft

The European Space Agency will launch its largest ever spacecraft to Jupiter in 2022. The Jupiter Icy and Moons Explorer (JUICE) space mission will explore the Jupiter and its moons to better understand this gas giant planet. The five key goals of the mission are studying the moons and their potential possibility to host life, understand why the Ganymede is the only moon in the Solar System with its own magnetic field, find clues for possible past life in the frozen oceans, study the complex space environment between Jupiter and the moons, and understand how gas giants like Jupiter are formed. The Planetary Radio Interferometry and Doppler Experiment (PRIDE) is one of the eleventh scientific instruments on board of the spacecraft. PRIDE group, led by Prof. Leonid Gurvits in the Netherlands, will conduct a series of radio science experiments during its phase cruise and at arrival at Jupiter environment. Understanding the magnetic field, the plasma and torus environment, radio occultations, and better ephemerides of the moons are among the priorities for the team when the spacecraft arrives to Jupiter in 2030. The University of Tasmania will play a key role on conducting the radio science experiments with its network of five radio telescopes. The first experiments will start as early as the mission is launched with a series of testing and calibration procedures. Observations will continue to better characterise the interplanetary plasma and other space weather events during the phase cruise which will span for the following seven years. This talk will cover the main points of the mission and the UTAS involvement.

Category:

Space missions

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