It should go to Jupiter and its moons in May 2022
TASS, April 28. The JUICE spacecraft has begun undergoing the first pre-flight tests in the laboratories of the European Space Agency (ESA). This is reported by the official Twitter of the mission.
[cloud=bc]A last juicy look to our Silver Beauty, before packing and shipping #JUICE for the test campaign.
An immense THANK YOU to the awesome @AirbusSpace Team and its Subcontractors, that worked day, night & weekends to make it happen pic.twitter.com/iiLmqP44iA
- ESA's JUICE mission (@ESA_JUICE) April 28, 2021
"As part of the first pre-flight tests, engineers will check the ability of the device to work in conditions as close to real as possible. These tests will take about a year. First, the device will be tested in a vacuum chamber in the ESA Large Space Simulator, " the report says.
The JUICE device is planned to be sent to Jupiter in the early summer of next year. The first plans for its construction were announced in May 2012, and the total budget of the mission exceeds €1 billion. The main goal of JUICE should be not only Jupiter, but also the three largest moons of the giant planet-Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.
According to the plans of scientists, JUICE should arrive in the Jupiter system approximately at the end of 2029. Over the next three years, he will study in detail the largest planet in the Solar System and its moons.
To solve these problems, ten scientific instruments were installed on board JUICE-radars, magnetometers, altimeters, spectrographs and spectrometers. One of these devices, the SWI microwave spectrometer, was developed jointly by German and Russian scientists. It is designed to study the properties of the atmosphere of Jupiter and its moons.
ESA and Airbus engineers completed the assembly and packaging of the device this week. In the near future, all components of the device will pass pre-flight tests. It will take place in the Large ESA Space Simulator, which is located in the vicinity of the Netherlands ' Noordwijk. After their completion, the device will be transported to the Kourou spaceport in French Guyana, from where it will be sent into space in May 2022.
