RIME

After the Radar for Icy Moon Exploration (RIME) antenna on ESA’s Juice mission encountered deployment issues post-launch, combined efforts from engineers at ESA, Airbus, and SpaceTech successfully rectified the problem. Suspecting ice formation as the issue, they heated the spacecraft by sun exposure, but when this didn’t work, they continued with the planned antenna deployment, which eventually dislodged the stuck pin and successfully deployed the antenna. (Juice flyby of Ganymede, artist’s impression.) Credit: ESAWhen…

ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, will make detailed observations of the giant gas planet and its three large ocean-bearing moons – Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa – with a suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments. The mission will characterize these moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats, explore Jupiter’s complex environment in-depth, and study the wider Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants across the Universe. Credit: ESAJuice spacecraft’s RIME antenna, designed to…