JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer Mission Research Articles

Calibration of MAJIS (Moons And Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer). II. Spatial calibration.

MAJIS, Moons and Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer, is one of the scientific payloads aboard European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission. This instrument underwent a comprehensive characterization and calibration campaign before integration on the spacecraft. In this work, we report on the measurements of the instrumental spatial responses, including the slit and pixel functions, the knife edge function, the ensquared energy, and the keystone aberration. The measurements were repeated in several positions of the field of view and within the range of MAJIS temperatures during science observations. The goal was to characterize the instrument's response under a wide set of conditions and at different visible-infrared wavelengths. The experimental setups employed to perform calibrations are described in detail, and the methodology applied to derive the instrumental spatial responses is discussed. After launch, minor changes in the instrument response and the coalignment between the two spectral channels were identified by comparing on-ground data with the first in-flight data returned by MAJIS.

Calibration of MAJIS (Moons And Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer). III. Spectral calibration.

The Moons And Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer (MAJIS) is the visible and near-infrared imaging spectrometer onboard the European Space Agency (ESA)'s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission. Before its integration into the spacecraft, the instrument undergoes an extensive ground calibration to establish its baseline performances. This process prepares the imaging spectrometer for flight operations by characterizing the behavior of the instrument under various operative conditions and uncovering instrumental distortions that may depend on instrumental commands. Two steps of the on-ground calibration campaigns were held at the instrument level to produce the data. Additional in-flight measurements have recently been obtained after launch during the Near-Earth Commissioning Phase. In this article, we present the analyses of these datasets, focusing on the characterization of the spectral performances. First, we describe and analyze the spectral calibration datasets obtained using both monochromatic sources and polychromatic sources coupled with solid and gas samples. Then, we derive the spectral sampling and the spectral response function over the entire field of view. These spectral characteristics are quantified for various operational parameters of MAJIS, such as temperature and spectral binning. The derived on-ground performances are then compared with in-flight measurements obtained after launch and presented in the framework of the MAJIS performance requirements.

NDT for qualification of space hardware made by additive manufacturing

X-Ray Computed Tomography (CT) has been established as the preferable NonDestructive Testing (NDT) method to detect inner defects in Metal Additive Manufactured (MAM) parts such as porosity, inclusions, lack of fusion, etc. Moreover, the usage of this manufacturing technology has grown in the aerospace sector due to the establishment of quality standards and the current maturity of the manufacturing systems, processing route and means of inspection. For instance, the European Cooperation for Space Standardization has developed a specific standard (coordinated by the European Space Agency – ESA) for AM quality assurance, processing, and requirements in space applications (ECSS-Q-ST-70-80C) indicating that CT inspections shall be carried out especially for critical structural and functional components. Similarly, large OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) have developed their own standards considering CT as a mandatory NDT method in critical parts, but also other techniques such as Penetrant Testing (PT), Digital Radiography (DR) or visual inspection (VI) are also considered necessary to assure the quality of the components. This works presents diverse applications examples of different NDTs for hardware qualification: Titanium brackets for CHEOPS space missions; Aluminium helix antenna for PROBA3; Aluminium brackets for JUpiter ICy moons Explorer mission (JUICE), the last; or other aeronautic components like Aluminium fairings for the Clean Sky 2 IADP demonstrator, and structural Titanium flap fittings of the RACER helicopter. The aforementioned cases will be analysed not only from the execution of the inspection, but also from the application of different standards and requirements, specifically developed for AM or adapted to this novel manufacturing technology.

An analysis of possible asteroids flyby for the ESA JUICE mission

Before reaching Jupiter and its icy moons, the ESA JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft will travel ∼8 years within the inner Solar System, entering the asteroid Main Belt (MB) twice. This is a unique opportunity to flyby and investigate at close range one or more asteroids, as previously done by other missions. In order to identify multiple asteroids as possible targets of opportunity for the JUICE cruise phase, we developed a new code, called Automatic Asteroid Search Toolkit (A2ST), which determines the minimum distance between the orbit of ∼140.000 asteroids and the spacecraft. From the list of potential objects ordered by range, we identify asteroid (1650) Heckmann and (223) Rosa as two objects of particular scientific interest. (1650) Heckmann is a ∼30 ​km-size inner MB member of the Polana asteroid family and it belongs to a taxonomical group (F-type) that has never been observed at close range. On the contrary (223) Rosa is an outer ∼80 ​km-size dark MB asteroid (X-type or T-type) whose origin is not yet fully understood. Indeed, it may be a collisional fragment of the Themis family or a primitive dark planetesimal that formed in the outer Solar System. The in-situ observation of both targets by the JUICE mission would widely expand the knowledge of the Solar System formation and evolution, as well as the compositional structure of the Main Belt, hence maximising the scientific return of the full mission.

Thermal conductivity measurements of macroscopic frozen salt ice analogues of Jovian icy moons in support of the planned JUICE mission

ABSTRACT The study of thermal properties of frozen salt solutions representative of ice layers in Jovian moons is crucial to support the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) (ESA) and Europa Clipper (NASA) missions, which will be launched in the upcoming years to make detailed observations of the giant gaseous planet Jupiter and three of its largest moons (Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto), due to the scarcity of experimental measurements. Therefore, we have conducted a set of experiments to measure and study the thermal conductivity of macroscopic frozen salt solutions of particular interest in these regions, including sodium chloride (NaCl), magnesium sulphate (MgSO4), sodium sulphate (Na2SO4), and magnesium chloride (MgCl2). Measurements were performed at atmospheric pressure and temperatures from 0 to −70 °C in a climatic chamber. Temperature and calorimetry were measured during the course of the experiments. An interesting side effect of these measurements is that they served to spot phase changes in the frozen salt solutions, even for very low salt concentrations. A small sample of the liquid salt-water solution was set aside for the calorimetry measurements. These experiments and the measurements of thermal conductivity and calorimetry will be valuable to constrain the chemical composition, physical state, and temperature of the icy crusts of Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto.

Regions of interest on Ganymede's and Callisto's surfaces as potential targets for ESA's JUICE mission

The JUpiter Icy moons Explorer (JUICE) will investigate Ganymede's and Callisto's surfaces and subsurfaces from orbit to explore the geologic processes that have shaped and altered their surfaces by impact, tectonics, possible cryovolcanism, space weathering due to micrometeorites, radiation and charged particles as well as explore the structure and properties of the icy crust and liquid shell (Grasset et al., 2013). The best possible synergy of the JUICE instruments is required to answer the major science objective of this mission and to fully exploit the potential of the JUICE mission. Therefore, the JUICE team is aiming to define high priority targets on both Ganymede's and Callisto's surfaces to support the coordination of the planning activities by the individual instrument teams. Based on the science objectives of the JUICE mission and the most recent knowledge of Ganymede's and Callisto's geologic evolution we propose a collection of Regions of Interest (RoIs), which characterize surface features and terrain types representing important traces of geologic processes, from past and/or present cryovolcanic and tectonic activity to space weathering processes, which are crucial to understand the geologic evolution of Ganymede and Callisto. The proposed evaluation of RoIs is based on their scientific importance as well as on the opportunities and conditions to observe them during the currently discussed mission profile.

Vacuum ultraviolet photoabsorption spectroscopy of space-related ices: formation and destruction of solid carbonic acid upon 1 keV electron irradiation

Context. Carbonic acid (H2CO3) is a weak acid relevant to astrobiology which, to date, remains undetected in space. Experimental work has shown that the β-polymorph of H2CO3 forms under space relevant conditions through energetic (UV photon, electron, and cosmic ray) processing of CO2- and H2O-rich ices. Although its α-polymorph ice has been recently reassigned to the monomethyl ester of carbonic acid, a different form of H2CO3 ice may exist and is synthesized without irradiation through surface reactions involving CO molecules and OH radicals, that is to say γ-H2CO3. Aims. We aim to provide a systematic set of vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoabsorption spectroscopic data of pure carbonic acid that formed and was destroyed under conditions relevant to space in support of its future identification on the surface of icy objects in the Solar System by the upcoming Jupiter ICy moons Explorer mission and on interstellar dust by the James Webb Space Telescope spacecraft. Methods. We present VUV photoabsorption spectra of pure and mixed CO2 and H2O ices exposed to 1 keV electrons at 20 and 80 K to simulate different interstellar and Solar System environments. Ices were then annealed to obtain a layer of pure H2CO3 which was further exposed to 1 keV electrons at 20 and 80 K to monitor its destruction pathway. Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy was used as a secondary probe providing complementary information on the physicochemical changes within an ice. Results. Our laboratory work shows that the formation of solid H2CO3, CO, and O3 upon the energetic processing of CO2:H2O ice mixtures is temperature-dependent in the range between 20 and 80 K. The amorphous to crystalline phase transition of H2CO3 ice is investigated for the first time in the VUV spectral range by annealing the ice at 200 and 225 K. We have detected two photoabsorption bands at 139 and 200 nm, and we assigned them to β-H2CO3 and γ-H2CO3, respectively. We present VUV spectra of the electron irradiation of annealed H2CO3 ice at different temperatures leading to its decomposition into CO2, H2O, and CO ice. Laboratory results are compared to Cassini UltraViolet Imaging Spectrograph observations of the 70−90 K ice surface of Saturn’s satellites Enceladus, Dione, and Rhea.

Beam tests of a prototype of the Radiation Hard Electron Monitor to be flown in the JUICE mission

Radiation Hard Electron Monitor (RADEM) is a radiation monitor dedicated to the ESA, Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) space mission. Its purpose, as a part of the JUICE environmental monitor system, is to provide precise information of Jupiter radiation belts such as particle fluxes, energy range, species and directionality. RADEM consists of three independent detector systems: the Proton and Heavy Ion Detector Head (P&HIDH), the Electron Detector Head (EDH), and the Directionality Detector Head (DDH). Each of them has a dedicated, radiation-hard IDE3466 ASIC responsible for the readout. In this paper, we compare the first beam tests results with Geant4 simulations to understand the instrument response and to validate the simulation mass model.

Favorable Conditions for Magnetic Reconnection at Ganymede's Upstream Magnetopause

AbstractGanymede is the only Solar System moon known to generate a permanent magnetic field. Jovian plasma motions around Ganymede create an upstream magnetopause, where energy flows are thought to be driven by magnetic reconnection. Simulations indicate Ganymedean reconnection events may be transient, but the nature of magnetopause reconnection at Ganymede remains poorly understood, requiring an assessment of reconnection onset theory. We present an analytical model of steady‐state conditions at Ganymede's magnetopause, from which the first Ganymedean reconnection onset assessment is conducted. We find that reconnection may occur wherever Ganymede's closed magnetic field encounters Jupiter's ambient magnetic field, regardless of variations in magnetopause conditions. Unrestricted reconnection onset highlights possibilities for multiple X lines or widespread transient reconnection at Ganymede. The reconnection rate is controlled by the ambient Jovian field orientation and hence driven by Jupiter's rotation. Future progress on this topic is highly relevant for the JUpiter ICy moon Explorer mission.

Predicting the effect of radiation damage on dark current in a space-qualified high performance CMOS image sensor

The CIS115 is a Teledyne-e2v CMOS image sensor with 1504 × 2000 pixels of 7 μm pitch. It has a high optical quantum efficiency owing to a multi-layer anti-reflective coating and its backside illuminated construction, and low dark current due to its pinned photodiode 4T pixel architecture. The sensor operates in rolling shutter mode with a frame rate of up to 7.5 fps (if using the whole array), and has a low readout noise of ∼5 electrons rms. The CIS115 has been selected for use within the JANUS instrument, which is a high resolution camera due to launch on board ESA's JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft in 2022. After an interplanetary transit time of over 7 years, JUICE will spend 3.5 years touring the Jovian system, studying three of the Galilean moons in particular: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. During this latter part of the mission, the spacecraft and hence the CIS115 sensor will be subjected to the significant levels of trapped radiation surrounding Jupiter. Gamma and proton irradiation campaigns have therefore been undertaken in order to evaluate both ionising and non-ionising dose effects on the CIS115's dark current performance. Characterisations were carried out at expected mission operating temperatures (−35 ± 10̂C) both prior to and post-irradiation. Models of the resulting degradation in dark current behaviour will be combined with expected doses during the JUICE mission in order to predict the performance of the CIS115 at the mission end-of-life.

Three‐Dimensional Modeling of Callisto's Surface Sputtered Exosphere Environment

AbstractWe study the release of various elements from Callisto's surface into its exosphere by plasma sputtering. The cold Jovian plasma is simulated with a 3‐D plasma‐planetary interaction hybrid model, which produces 2‐D surface precipitation maps for magnetospheric H+, O+, O++, and S++. For the hot Jovian plasma, we assume isotropic precipitation onto the complete spherical surface. Two scenarios are investigated: one where no ionospheric shielding takes place and accordingly full plasma penetration is implemented (no‐ionosphere scenario) and one where an ionosphere lets virtually none of the cold plasma but all of the hot plasma reach Callisto's surface (ionosphere scenario). In the 3‐D exosphere model, neutral particles are sputtered from the surface and followed on their individual trajectories. The 3‐D density profiles show that whereas in the no‐ionosphere scenario the ram direction is favored, the ionosphere scenario produces almost uniform density profiles. In addition, the density profiles in the ionosphere scenario are reduced by a factor of ∼2.5 with respect to the no‐ionosphere scenario. We find that the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, which is part of the Particle Environment Package on board the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer mission, will be able to detect the different sputter populations from Callisto's icy surface and the major sputter populations from Callisto's nonicy surface. The chemical composition of Callisto's exosphere can be directly linked to the chemical composition of its surface and will offer us information not only on Callisto's formation scenario but also on the building blocks of the Jupiter system.

Observability of Callisto's Inductive Signature During the JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer Mission

AbstractUsing hybrid simulations and analytical calculations, we investigate the observable magnetic perturbations during the 12 planned Callisto flybys of the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer mission. During four of these encounters, Callisto will be embedded within Jupiter's magnetospheric current sheet. In these cases, Callisto's Alfvén wings and ramside magnetic field pileup will partially obscure any magnetic signatures associated with induction in a conducting layer at the moon, thereby severely complicating attempts to further constrain properties of a possible subsurface ocean. During one of these flybys, the plasma interaction will even generate magnetic signatures that are qualitatively similar to an induced field from the moon's interior. In this case, highly accurate measurements of the upstream flow parameters and Callisto's ionosphere are required to disentangle the induction signal from plasma effects. For the remaining eight encounters, Callisto's plasma interaction is expected to be sufficiently weak for an unobstructed observation of the moon's inductive signature.

A low energy ion beam facility for mass spectrometer calibration: First results.

The exploration of habitable environments around the gas giants in the Solar System is of major interest in upcoming planetary missions. Exactly this theme is addressed by the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission of the European Space Agency (ESA), which will characterise Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto as planetary objects and potential habitats. The NIM, Neutral gas and Ion Mass spectrometer, is part of the PEP experiment and will be used to measure the chemical composition of the exospheres of the icy Jovian moons. We designed and developed a calibration facility (SATANS, Supersonic cATion and ANion Source), especially for use with the NIM instrument. In a first step, we established a low energy ion beam for positive ions in the range of 0.01-30 eV. Then we conducted beam velocity calibrations with a velocity uncertainty <5%, which provided exact settings and formulas for the cation beam velocity of different gas mixtures in the range of 1-15 km/s. In addition, first results are obtained by using the NIM prototype for direct ion beam measurements under realistic JUICE mission conditions, i.e., for velocities from 1 up to 7 km/s and even more.

A search for Ganymede stereo images and 3D mapping opportunities

We used 126 Voyager-1 and -2 as well as 87 Galileo images of Ganymede and searched for stereo images suitable for digital 3D stereo analysis. Specifically, we consider image resolutions, stereo angles, as well as matching illumination conditions of respective stereo pairs. Lists of regions and local areas with stereo coverage are compiled. We present anaglyphs and we selected areas, not previously discussed, for which we constructed Digital Elevation Models and associated visualizations. The terrain characteristics in the models are in agreement with our previous notion of Ganymede morphology, represented by families of lineaments and craters of various sizes and degradation stages. The identified areas of stereo coverage may serve as important reference targets for the Ganymede Laser Altimeter (GALA) experiment on the future JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) mission.

Virtual Planetary Space Weather Services offered by the Europlanet H2020 Research Infrastructure

Under Horizon 2020, the Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure (EPN2020-RI) will include an entirely new Virtual Access Service, “Planetary Space Weather Services” (PSWS) that will extend the concepts of space weather and space situational awareness to other planets in our Solar System and in particular to spacecraft that voyage through it. PSWS will make twelve new services accessible to the research community, space agencies, and industrial partners planning for space missions. These services will in particular be dedicated to the following key planetary environments: Mars (in support of the NASA MAVEN and European Space Agency (ESA) Mars Express and ExoMars missions), comets (building on the outstanding success of the ESA Rosetta mission), and outer planets (in preparation for the ESA JUpiter ICy moon Explorer mission), and one of these services will aim at predicting and detecting planetary events like meteor showers and impacts in the Solar System. This will give the European planetary science community new methods, interfaces, functionalities and/or plugins dedicated to planetary space weather as well as to space situational awareness in the tools and models available within the partner institutes. A variety of tools (in the form of web applications, standalone software, or numerical models in various degrees of implementation) are available for tracing propagation of planetary and/or solar events through the Solar System and modelling the response of the planetary environment (surfaces, atmospheres, ionospheres, and magnetospheres) to those events. But these tools were not originally designed for planetary event prediction and space weather applications. PSWS will provide the additional research and tailoring required to apply them for these purposes. PSWS will be to review, test, improve and adapt methods and tools available within the partner institutes in order to make prototype planetary event and space weather services operational in Europe at the end of 2017. To achieve its objectives PSWS will use a few tools and standards developed for the Astronomy Virtual Observatory (VO). This paper gives an overview of the project together with a few illustrations of prototype services based on VO standards and protocols.

Mass spectrometry of planetary exospheres at high relative velocity: direct comparison of open- and closed-source measurements

Abstract. The exploration of habitable environments on or inside icy moons around the gas giants in the solar system is of major interest in upcoming planetary missions. Exactly this theme is addressed by the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) mission of ESA, which will characterise Ganymede, Europa and Callisto as planetary objects and potential habitats. We developed a prototype of the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass spectrometer (NIM) of the Particle Environment Package (PEP) for the JUICE mission intended for composition measurements of neutral gas and thermal plasma. NIM/PEP will be used to measure the chemical composition of the exospheres of the icy Jovian moons. Besides direct ion measurement, the NIM instrument is able to measure the inflowing neutral gas in two different modes: in neutral mode, where the gas enters directly the ion source (open source), and in thermal mode, where the gas gets thermally accommodated to the wall temperature by several collisions inside an equilibrium sphere, called antechamber, before entering the ion source (closed source). We performed measurements with the prototype NIM using a neutral gas beam of 1 up to 4.5 km s−1 velocity in the neutral and thermal mode. The current trajectory of JUICE foresees a flyby velocity of 4 km s−1 at Europa; other flybys are in the range of 1 up to 7 km s−1 and orbital velocity in Ganymede orbits is around 2 km s−1. Different species are used for the gas beam, such as noble gases Ne, Ar, Kr as well as molecules like H2, methane, ethane, propane and more complex ones. The NIM prototype was successfully tested under realistic JUICE mission conditions. In addition, we find that the antechamber (closed source) behaves as expected with predictable density enhancement over the specified mass range and within the JUICE mission phase velocities. Furthermore, with the open source and the closed source we measure almost the same composition for noble gases, as well as for molecules, indicating no additional fragmentation of the species recorded with the antechamber for the investigated parameter range.

High-energy Electron Induced SEUs and Jovian Environment Impact

We present experimental evidence of electron-induced upsets in a reference European Space Agency (ESA) single event upset (SEU) monitor, induced by a 200-MeV electron beam at the Very energetic Electronic facility for Space Planetary Exploration in harsh Radiation environments facility at CERN. Comparison of experimental cross sections and simulated cross sections is shown and the differences are analyzed. Possible secondary contributions to the upset rate by neutrons, flash effects, and cumulative dose effects are discussed, showing that electronuclear reactions are the expected SEU mechanism. The ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission, to be launched in 2022, presents a challenging radiation environment due to the intense high-energy electron flux in the trapped radiation belts. Insight is given to the possible contribution of electrons to the overall upset rates in the Jovian radiation environment. Relative contributions of both typical electron and proton spectra created when the environmental spectra are transported through a typical spacecraft shielding are shown and the different mission phases are discussed.

On the in-situ detectability of Europa's water vapour plumes from a flyby mission

We investigate the feasibility of detecting water molecules (H2O) and water ions (H2O+) from the Europa plumes from a flyby mission. A Monte Carlo particle tracing method is used to simulate the trajectories of neutral particles under the influence of Europa's gravity field and ionized particles under the influence of Jupiter's magnetic field and the convectional electric field. As an example mission case we investigate the detection of neutral and ionized molecules using the Particle Environment Package (PEP), which is part of the scientific payload of the future JUpiter ICy moon Explorer mission (JUICE). We consider plumes that have a mass flux that is three orders of magnitude lower than what has been inferred from recent Hubble observations (Roth et al., 2014a). We demonstrate that the in-situ detection of H2O and H2O+ from these low mass flux plumes is possible by the instruments with large margins with respect to background and instrument noise. The signal to noise ratio for neutrals is up to ∼5700 and ∼33 for ions. We also show that the geometry of the plume source, either a point source or 1000km-long crack, does not influence the density distributions, and thus, their detectability. Furthermore, we discuss how to separate the plume-originating H2O and H2O+ from exospheric H2O and H2O+. The separation depends strongly on knowledge of the density distribution of Europa's exosphere.

Tides on Jupiter's moon Ganymede and their relation to its internal structure

AbstractOne of the major scientific objectives of ESA's JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) mission, which is scheduled for launch in 2022 and planned to arrive at the Jovian system in 2030, is to characterise the internal water ocean and overlying ice shell of Jupiter's largest moon Ganymede. As part of the strategy developed to realise this objective, the tidal response of Ganymede's interior will be constrained by JUICE's measurements of surface displacements (by the Ganymede Laser Altimeter (GALA) instrument) and variations in the gravitational potential (by the 3GM radio science package) due to the acting diurnal tides. Here we calculate the tidal response at the surface of Ganymede for several plausible internal configurations in order to analyse the relation between the tidal response and the geophysical parameters that characterise Ganymede's interior. Similarly to the case of Jupiter's smallest icy satellite Europa, the tidal response of Ganymede in the presence of a subsurface ocean, which could be as large as about 3.5 m in terms of the induced radial deformation, mostly depends on the structural (thickness, density) and rheological (rigidity, viscosity) properties of the ice-I shell. Nevertheless, the dependence of the tidal response on several geophysical parameters of the interior, in particular on the thickness and rigidity of the ice-I shell, does not allow for the unambiguous determination of the shell thickness from tidal measurements alone. Additional constraints could be provided by the measurement of forced longitudinal librations at the surface, as their amplitude is more sensitive to the rigidity than to the thickness of the shell.

Optimal orbits around Ganymede for the JUICE mission

The JUpiter ICy moons Explorer mission of the European Space Agency, that will be launched in the year 2022, will study the geodesy and physical characteristics of Jupiter and its icy moons Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. The final phase of this mission, planned for the year 2032, is still under investigation and foresees phases in circular orbit around Ganymede. In this paper two types of science orbits around Ganymede, that optimize the observational performances and the probe life-time, are proposed. While the first type allows, at “zero cost”, the obtaining of repeated observations of a given point of the surface, the second type, with a limited cost, adds to the periodicity of observation, the condition of synchronism with the Sun. This synchronism permits both the achievement of a condition of permanent sunlight for the probe, thus leading to an extension of the mission duration, and a minimization of the variations of spectral signature due to the Sun's position.