Deciding to go to Jupiter was the easy part: it’s by far the largest planet around the Sun, resembling a Solar System in its own right with its many moons, three of which may well be home to hidden oceans beneath their icy surfaces. Then came the practical question: how do we actually put together a mission to go there? It was here that ESA’s Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality lent its support to the Juice team, tackling numerous technical challenges that threatened to bar Europe’s way to the king of planets. 

Image: Juice testing – down to the wire

Over the past few days, Juice has been transferred to the final assembly building and mounted onto the Ariane 5 rocket that will carry it into space. These photos capture the key milestones in this process.

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Apr 02, 2023
These two images show a large part of the city of Las Vegas and parts of its surroundings. One is a true colour representation (left) and one is a false colour representation (right). The images were acquired by the German environmental satellite EnMAP, which captured a 41-kilometre by 122-kilometre image strip of the region on 12 July 2022. The total area is approximately 5077 square kilo

Rome, Italy (SPX) Apr 02, 2023
Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has won contracts from the European Space Agency (ESA) to supply a first batch of six small satellites with synthetic aperture radars (SAR) and one satellite based on optical technology for the Italian Earth observation constellation, IRIDE. This innovative new constellation, based on a number of different sensing in

Tucson AZ (SPX) Apr 02, 2023
Raytheon Technologies has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Navy for phase one of the Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare weapon program, or HALO. HALO is a carrier-based offensive anti-ship strike weapon that supports the U.S. Navy's long range fires strategy. "The U.S. Navy requires a highly capable and survivable weapon that's adaptable for future relevance," said

Buckley SFB CO (SPX) Apr 02, 2023
Space Operations Command recently took control of the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) Satellite-6 from Space Systems Command on March 24, 2023. "Space Delta 4 and the 2nd Space Warning Squadron are honored to add SBIRS GEO-6 to our repertoire of missile warning and tracking sensors," said Col. Miguel Cruz, Space Delta 4 commander. "Our mission area has

Luxembourg (SPX) Apr 04, 2023
Kleos Space Inc. (Kleos), subsidiary of Kleos Space S.A. ASX: KSS, a space-powered defense and intelligence technology company, has been awarded the Stage Two option on its current contract with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) as part of the Strategic Commercial Enhancements Broad Agency Announcement (SCE BAA) Framework. The NRO is responsible for maintaining global vigilance in t

Washington DC (SPX) Apr 04, 2023
The Space Development Agency (SDA) has announced the successful initial launch of Tranche 0 (T0) of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), the Transport and Tracking Layer satellites that will demonstrate the low-latency communication links to support the warfighter with a resilient network of integrated capabilities, including tracking of advanced missile threats, from low-Earth