A important antenna is jammed on a Jupiter-bound spacecraft launched two weeks in the past, the European Area Company reported Friday.
The 52-foot (16-meter) radar antenna on Juice unfolded solely one-third of the best way following liftoff, in accordance with the space company.
Engineers suspect a tiny pin could also be protruding. Flight controllers in Germany plan to fireplace the spacecraft’s engine in hopes of shaking the pin unfastened. If that does not work, they stated they’ve loads of time to unravel the issue.
Juice, brief for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, will not attain the large planet till 2031. It is taking a roundabout path to get there, together with gravity-assist flybys of Earth and our moon, and Venus.
The radar antenna is required to see beneath the icy crust of three Jupiter moons suspected of harboring underground oceans and probably life, a serious objective of the practically $1.8 billion mission. Its targets embody Callisto, Europa and Ganymede, the most important moon within the solar system.
The space company stated the whole lot else goes properly with the spacecraft, concerning the measurement of a small bus. A radio antenna, solar panels and a 35-foot (10.6-meter) increase for measuring Jupiter’s magnetic area have all been efficiently deployed.
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Key radar antenna caught on Europe’s Jupiter-bound spacecraft (2023, April 28)
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