Europa Jupiter System Mission

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The two probes, JEO above and JGO below. Note that JEO RTGs and JGO are said to have solar cells for power supply.

The Europe Jupiter System Mission ( EJSM , ESA working title Laplace ) proposed for 2020 was a joint proposal by NASA and ESA for an in-depth exploration of Jupiter's moons with a focus on Europe , Ganymede and the magnetosphere of Jupiter . The Japanese space organization JAXA had also announced its willingness to participate in the EJSM. However, the most recently pursued mission plans did not include any participation by Japan. After NASA left the EJSM, ESA would like to implement its probe with a modified program under the name JUICE .

Selection process and funding

The EJSM was originally in direct competition with another joint proposal by NASA and ESA, the TandEM / Titan Saturn System Mission. In February 2009, however, both of the proposals for more in-depth planning studies were selected, with the Titan Saturn System Mission not scheduled to start until after 2020, i.e. after the EJSM. Within the ESA, however, the financing of the project had to face other competitors such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and the International X-ray Observatory (IXO), which is why NASA also developed retention plans for carrying out the mission on its own.

Like the TSSM, the cost of the EJSM (excluding JAXA's involvement) was estimated at around 4.45 billion US dollars, of which around 3.8 billion would be borne by NASA and 650 million by ESA. However, since NASA had to withdraw from the project after a budget cut in February 2012, ESA began investigating the possibility of carrying out the mission without NASA from March 2011. This space probe is called JUpiter ICy moon Explorer (JUICE) .

On May 2, 2012, ESA approved the JUICE space probe, which, after two fly-bys at the moon Europa , is to swing twelve past Callisto into orbit around Ganymede . JUICE is scheduled to be launched on board an Ariane 5 ECA in 2022 . After three flybys of Earth and one of Venus , JUICE is scheduled to reach Jupiter in 2030 and enter Jupiter orbit through an engine ignition and a braking swing-by at Ganymede. After the flybys of Europa and Callisto, JUICE is expected to reach orbit around Ganymede in 2032.

Mission planning

The most important characteristic of the EJSM / Laplace study was its simultaneous use of two, or possibly three, orbital probes:

  • The Jupiter Europa Orbiter (JEO) , for the development, launch and control of which NASA would have been responsible, was supposed to undertake an in-depth study of the moons Europa and Io .
  • The Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter (JGO) , for the development, launch and control of which the ESA was to be responsible, would have been intended for an in-depth study of the moons Ganymede and Callisto. This spacecraft is now being implemented as JUICE, with two European flybys added to the mission planning.
  • The Jupiter Magnetosphere Orbiter (JMO) , for the development, launch and control of which JAXA is to be responsible, was intended for an in-depth study of Jupiter's magnetosphere.

The last EJSM planning consisted of the JEO and the JGO, which are to explore the Jupiter system for the first time in a precisely choreographed double mission from two points of view at the same time. Both probes were to move into a low orbit around their eponymous moons Europa and Ganymede in order to explore their suspected subterranean water oceans and also phenomena such as the volcanoes on Io, the atmosphere and magnetosphere of Jupiter, as well as the interaction of the latter with the Galileans Investigate moons . If JAXA had joined the project, the JMO would have explored the Jupiter magnetosphere directly on site and would also have given the opportunity to explore the Jupiter system at an unprecedented depth by simultaneously “illuminating” the system from all sides with three probes. However, following the exit of NASA and the unclear status of the Japanese participation, the EJSM is likely to have been canceled.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gunter Krebs: JEO. In: Gunter's Spage Page. May 3, 2012, accessed September 13, 2012 .
  2. ↑ Gunter Krebs: JUICE. In: Gunter's Spage Page. May 3, 2012, accessed September 13, 2012 .
  3. ↑ OPF Study Team: Outer Planet Flagship Mission: Briefing to the OPAG Steering Committee. (PDF; 5.7 MB) Outer Planets Assessment Group, August 28, 2008, accessed October 14, 2008 .
  4. ↑ sci.esa.int
  5. ↑ esa.int
  6. ↑ Stephen Clark: Mars, Europa missions battle for scarce NASA funding. In: Spaceflight Now. February 23, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  7. ↑ EJSM-Lapace, Mission Status. In: ESA Science and Technology. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  8. ↑ ESA: JUICE is Europe's next large science mission and ESA Germany: Europe's next large science mission is called JUICE Date: May 2 and 3, 2012, accessed: May 3, 2012.
  9. ↑ JUICE Assessment Study Report December 2011, p. 87 u. 88, accessed: May 3, 2012 (PDF; 39.7 MB)