Installing JUICE's magnetometer boom
Date: 26 February 2021
Copyright: Airbus / Lightcurve Films
When it launches in 2022, ESA's JUICE – JUpiter ICy moons Explorer – will complete a unique tour of the Jupiter system, and study the planet's three potentially ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Europa and Callisto.
In late February, JUICE hit a milestone when the boom for two of its advanced instruments was successfully moved into place and installed at the Airbus satellite integration centre facilities in Friedrichshafen, Germany (as shown in this video).
The boom weighs about 44 kilograms, extends to 10.6 metres in length, and is made of non-magnetic materials – including carbon fibre, titanium and aluminium alloys, and bronze – that can withstand temperatures of -210 to +250 °C. It will hold five magnetically sensitive sensors away from the main body of the spacecraft itself, in order to avoid any possible magnetic interference or disturbances as the instruments study the magnetism of the Jovian system.