Author: tcavalie

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The JUICE mission

The next flagship mission of the European Space Agency  (ESA) will be the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE). This probe will be launched in 2022 and will follow a Venus-Earth-Mars gravitational assist trajectory. It will enter into Jupiter orbit in 2030.

JUICE will study the jovian system for about 4 years with a suite of 10 instruments, among which the Submillimetre Wave Instrument (SWI). the adopted trajectory proposes about 50 jovian orbit (including ~10 inclined orbits), two Europa flybys, and about 30 flybys of Ganymede and Callisto. JUICE will eventually enter into a Ganymede orbit.

The science objectives of the JUICE mission are detailed on the ESA JUICE webpage.

 

The JUICE mission (credits: ESA)

My work, as ESA Working Group Lead, consists in coordinating the scientific preparation of the observations of Jupiter with the MAJIS, JANUS, UVS, 3GM and SWI instruments, with L. Fletcher (University of Leceister). We study the best observation and synergistic science opportunities. We regularly produce reports for ESA. More information on the science preparation of the mission can be found on a dedicated ESA webpage.

JUICE trajectory segmentation example to optimize Jupiter observations.

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The Submillimetre Wave Instrument (JUICE mission)

The Submillimetre Wave Instrument (SWI)  is a 29-cm submillimeter telescope that will enable us to observe in 2 spectral bands (600 and 1200 GHz) with a resolving power of 107 thanks to the heterodyne spectroscopy technique. The Principal Investigator of this instrument is P. Hartogh (MPS, Germany).

 

The Submillimetre Wave Instrument

SWI will observe at high spatial, spectral and temporal resolution. The main goals are the measurement of the 3D atmospheric composition and circulation of Jupiter, and the study of the atmospheres and surfaces of the Galilean Moons.

The observations of the jovian stratosphere will enable us to monitor the  species deposited by comet SL9 in 1994. We will measure the isotopic ratios in several molecules (H2O, CO, HCN), and to map stratospheric winds for the duration of the mission.

France is contributing in the development of hardware for SWI, with funding from CNES. LERMA produces the synthesizers and the 1200 GHz receiver. LESIA and LAB contribute to the development of software tools, to ground and inflight calibration, and to science implementation.

I am co-I of SWI. I supervise the development of the observation planning software and the writing of the instrument command scripts. I also take part in the instrument calibration activities.

 

Simulation of the retrieval of atmospheric methane abundance (top right), temperature (top center right) and winds (top center left) from the observation of methane spectral lines (top left).

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University lectures

Lectures at the Bordeaux University (2005 – 2016)

  • Astronomy: Planetary atmospheres, Radio observations of planets, Exoplanets, Enceladus and other icy moons, Water in the Solar System, The Antikythera Mechanism

 

 

 

 

 

(left) Enceladus (credits: NASA) ; (right) The Antikythera Mechanism

  • Geometrical optics
  • Classical mechanics