“Critical Condition of Juice Spacecraft’s Antenna Headed for Jupiter: Latest Updates”

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CAPE CANAVERAL — An antenna is in critical condition due to jamming on the heading spacecraft Jupiter which was launched two weeks ago. The European Space Agency stated on Friday (28/4/2023), a 16-meter long radar antenna at Juice open only a third after takeoff.

Engineers suspect a small pin may be sticking out. Flight controllers in Germany plan to start the spacecraft’s engines in the hope of removing the pin. If that doesn’t work, they admit they still have plenty of time to work things out.

The spaceship Juice, or Jupiter’s Icy Moons Explorer, won’t reach the giant planet until 2031. It will take a circuitous route to get there, including flybys of Earth and the moon, as well as gravity-assisted Venus.

Radar antennas are needed to peer beneath the icy crusts of three Jupiter moons that are thought to harbor underground oceans and possibly life. That presence is the main goal of the nearly $1.8 billion mission. Its targets include Callisto, Europa and Ganymede, the solar system’s largest moon.

The space agency says all is well with the spacecraft, about the size of a small bus. Radio antennas, solar panels and a 10.6 meter boom to measure Jupiter’s magnetic field have all been used successfully.

source: AP