JUICE probe encounters antenna deployment issue en route to Jupiter.
TL;DR
The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is having trouble deploying its 16-meter-long radar antenna, which is crucial for scanning beneath the icy crusts of Jupiter's moons. The RIME instrument is a radar sounder that can reveal details about subsurface geology and geophysics. The spacecraft teams are working to free the antenna, and they plan to shake the aircraft or rotate it into sunlight to warm up the mount. JUICE is on an eight-year-long cruise mode and will perform 35 flyby approaches to Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
- ESA Can't Deploy JUICE's Radar Antenna. It Needs It to Scan Under the Ice at Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede Universe Today
- ESA's Jupiter-bound Probe Hits Antenna Snag Hackaday
- ESA struggles with stuck antenna on JUICE probe en route to Jupiter New Atlas
- JUICE Hits A Snag On Its Way To Jupiter – But The Team Has Solutions IFLScience
- ESA Begins Deploying Jupiter Probe's Instruments, Discovers One Is Stuck ExtremeTech
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