Video: 00:12:07

The Making of Juice series takes the viewer behind the scenes of the European space industry, space technology and planetary science communities around ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission.

Juice has a state-of-the-art science payload comprising remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments. This episode focuses on the in situ instruments, which will study the particle, magnetic, radio and plasma environment in the Jupiter system.

A magnetometer (J-MAG) equipped with sensors will characterise the Jovian magnetic field and its interaction with that of Ganymede, and will study the subsurface oceans of the icy moon. The Particle Environment Package

Image: Ariane 5 rocket for the Juice launch being transferred to the final assembly building at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana for payload integration and last preparation for flight VA260

The first Eurostar Neo satellite built under ESA’s Neosat Partnership Project has completed its electric orbit raising to reach its geostationary position some 36 000 kilometres above Earth.

Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 29, 2023
Over the past several weeks, Perseverance has traveled up Jezero's western fan and has begun exploring its upper surface, a potential treasure-trove of information about the river systems that flowed into the crater and the rocks they may have brought in from other areas! After dropping off our first sample depot at Three Forks, we began to explore further up the fan then we had ever been

Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 29, 2023
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is preparing for its 49th flight on Mars, with a flight date scheduled for March 29th, 2023. The helicopter's goal for this flight is to reposition itself and conduct imaging science targets. During the flight, Ingenuity will travel a horizontal distance of 893.9 feet (272.5 meters) and reach a maximum altitude of 40 feet (12 meters), with a pop-up to 52.5 feet (

Herndon, VA (SPX) Mar 29, 2023
BlackSky Technology Inc. (NYSE: BKSY) successfully commissioned two new satellites that began revenue-generating commercial operations within 18 hours of "The Beat Goes On" launch mission. "BlackSky has more than doubled our on-orbit capacity in the last 18 months, with enough capacity to support growth over the next two years," said Nick Merski, BlackSky chief operating officer. "Our flex

Washington DC (UPI) Mar 28, 2023
Russia's uncrewed Soyuz spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan Tuesday morning after suffering a major coolant leak in December. The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan at 7:46 a.m. EDT on Tuesday after leaving the docking port of the Russian-built Rassvet module of the International Space Station. "It's de-orbiting and descent to Earth went smoothly," Roscosmos officials announ

Video: 00:58:00

Sat in a windowless office beneath ESA’s Main Control Room in Darmstadt, Germany, two Simulations Officers have complete control over the Juice spacecraft and ESA’s deep space ground stations across the globe – and they take full advantage.

These aren’t the real 35-metre antennas or the actual spacecraft (currently in Kourou, French Guiana), but a complex simulator. For teams that will fly the mission for real, it all looks, feels and behaves just like the real thing. The ‘problem’ for them is, it keeps going wrong. 

Down in the simulations bunker, the Officers are revelling in their dastardly plan

ESA space telescopes have observed the brightest gamma-ray burst ever seen. Data from this rare event could become instrumental in understanding the details of the colossal explosions that create gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).