The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission (JUICE) has completed another milestone with the successful integration of a magnetometer boom (MAGBOOM) to the spacecraft.
The deployable magnetometer boom was integrated by space engineers at the Airbus satellite integration centre in Friedrichshafen, Germany.
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The 44kg boom is designed to withstand temperatures from -210°C to 250°C and has a total length is 10.6m once deployed.
MAGBOOM is made of non-magnetic materials such as carbon fibre, bronze, and various titanium and aluminium alloys. It is equipped with five magnetically sensitive instrument sensors to protect the main spacecraft from any disturbances.
The sensors are part of the magnetometer package J-MAG and the Radio and Plasma Wave Investigation (RPWI) scientific instruments.
J-MAG will explore the Jovian magnetosphere and its interaction with the three icy moons, namely Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, while the RPWI instrument will study radio emissions and plasma environments of Jupiter and its icy moons.
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By GlobalDataThe JUICE spacecraft is slated for launch last year and will travel nearly 600 million-kilometres on its journey to Jupiter.
The 6.2t spacecraft will carry ten advanced scientific instruments, including a camera, spectrometers, a sub-mm wave instrument, an ice-penetrating radar and a laser altimeter.
It will also carry a radio-science experiment and instrument packages, electric fields and charged particles.
Last October, all ten solar panels for JUICE arrived at Airbus Defence and Space in the Netherlands.
The solar panels will provide the necessary power to run the spacecraft and operate the science instruments during the more than-three years mission.
Airbus is the prime contractor for the mission and is leading an industrial consortium of more than 80 companies across Europe.
