JUICE launch to Jupiter: GALA diary from Kourou

Animation of the JUICE spacecraft flyby of Jupiter and its moons

Part 2 – JUICE flies! We have a mission!

After a minor setback on Thursday due to a launch scrub, the Ariane 5 rocket carrying JUICE performed a flawless launch on Friday at 14:14 CEST (09:14 local time). The spacecraft is now in contact with Earth and its solar panels are deployed.

The postponement meant a second day waking up at 05:30 'Kourou time'. At 06:00, we set out for a cosy bakery in the city centre, where we prepared ourselves for the day. Check-in for the bus transfer to the Ibis, Carapa and Toucan viewing platforms had become almost routine. The weather was much better on Friday; now and then, the Sun even managed to peek through the clouds, and the breeze was gentle. The weather status remained 'green', granting the mission the all-important green light. read more

TRIPLE-IceCraft Expedition to Antarctica – Drilling through the ice shelf - part 5

TRIPLE-IceCraft drilling through the ice

All of us on the team have been working towards this moment for the last few years: we will finally be able to operate our TRIPLE-IceCraft probe on the ice shelf and drill a deep hole there! The probe will now have to prove itself, and we are all very excited. After the successful four-metre-deep test drilling at Neumayer Station III a few days ago, we are optimistic and highly motivated. The transport of the melting probe to the drilling site with an 80-metre-thick ice shelf can start: at around 7:00 (local time), a colleague from the technical team prepares the snow crawler. The container containing the TRIPLE-IceCraft is released from the snow drift and driven forward. Meanwhile, we pack up the last things. In addition to our working container, we also have a living container and a transport sledge to be transported to the drilling site. read more

GALA on JUICE Part 3 – The challenge of radiation exposure on the 'Mount Everest of the Solar System'

Artist's impression of Jupiter's magnetic field

The Ganymede Laser Altimeter (GALA) will face one of the most hostile environments in the Solar System while in the Jupiter system. The space around the planet is saturated with an enormously high level of radiation, so strong that it can degrade the performance of orbiting scientific instruments or even destroy them. GALA is one of ten instruments on board the JUICE mission, which will set off for the fifth planet of the Solar System in April 2023. It was meticulously developed and extensively tested to survive and function correctly in this extreme environment. read more

GALA on JUICE Part 2 – From the first idea to the finished instrument – a development story

Jupiter’s Galilean moons –  the target of the JUICE mission

In the first part of this blog series on the Ganymede Laser Altimeter (GALA), we introduced the instrument and its scientific goals. In this article, we will describe the long development history that a complex instrument such as GALA must go through until it can be launched into space.

In 2007, more than 15 years ago, ESA selected a proposal for a Jupiter mission for an ‘Assessment Phase Study’. The idea was to fly to the unexplored icy moons of Jupiter and study their atmosphere, magnetic fields and radiation belts. The mission was named Laplace. read more

TRIPLE-IceCraft expedition to Antarctica – final system tests and completion of preparations for drilling – part 4

Successful test drilling – view into a four-metre-deep melt hole

Soon it will be time for the big test of our TRIPLE-IceCraft probe, which is to melt its way through the almost 100-metre-thick ice shelf north of Neumayer Station III. But before that, we still have to perform final system checks and make a first test borehole. read more

GALA on JUICE Part 1 - All set for launch to Jupiter

ESA's JUICE spacecraft in the Jupiter system (artist's impression)

IIn April 2023, ESA's JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft will launch to the Jupiter system. The DLR Institute of Planetary Research is playing a key role in the mission with the Ganymede Laser Altimeter (GALA) and the JANUS camera. The launch preparations are now fully under way. With the successful completion of GALA's tests on the spacecraft, the team can look back on an intensive project phase and is now eagerly awaiting the launch.

What is our goal?

Jupiter's Galilean moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, orbit Jupiter in slightly elliptical orbits lasting between 42 hours (Io) and just under 17 days (Callisto). They are comparatively close to the giant planet, which means that enormous tidal forces are exerted on the moons by Jupiter during their orbits. These forces are particularly strong on the inner moons Io and Europa, but they are also clearly detectable further out on Ganymede and Callisto. These forces lead to a periodic deformation of the surface, which can be detected with suitable instruments. This is exactly what GALA will do for Ganymede, the largest moon in the Solar System. read more

TRIPLE IceCraft Expedition to Antarctica – first functional tests of the melting probe – Part 3

View of our container from Neumayer Station, the antenna dome (radome) and the Polar 5 aircraft

The seventh day of our Antarctic expedition to test the TRIPLE-IceCraft melting probe begins for me and all the new arrivals in our segregated living area: our joint COVID-19 test is scheduled with the station doctor and manager. Thankfully, all new arrivals have tested negative! The isolation and mask-wearing are over! In the evening, the whole group gathers to get acquainted with the existing crew of Neumayer III. read more

TRIPLE IceCraft Expedition to Antarctica - preparations can begin - part 2

Our arrival at Neumayer Station III

Day 3 – 26 January 2023

At the time of our arrival at Neumayer Station III. Technically it is morning, but the long journey has messed up my internal clock. It will take a few days for my sense of time to return to normal. In the meantime, we are settling in and recovering a bit from the journey. To prevent any COVID-19 infections in the station, all 10 new arrivals are isolating: we are wearing masks inside the station, using different lounges, bedrooms and bathrooms, and eating at different times in the mess hall. First, I received a short presentation from the station manager and later a guided tour of the different areas and floors. Afterwards, Jan Audehm, Simon Zierke and I moved into our cabin, a mobile living container that stands on a sled right next to the station. read more

TRIPLE-IceCraft expedition to Antarctica – the long way south – part 1

View of the ice shelf edge

Some regions on Earth are as mysterious as distant celestial bodies – but equally explored. These include subglacial lakes in Antarctica. These lakes lie under a permanent layer of ice, often several kilometres thick, and sometimes form an ecosystem that has been closed off for about a million years. It is safe to assume that they contain microbial life that has adapted to these extreme environmental conditions. But to study microbial life, samples must be taken without contamination, so that no microorganisms are introduced from the surface. This is a particularly technical and methodological challenge. In 2018, the German Space Agency at DLR launched the Technologies for Rapid Ice Penetration and subglacial Lake Exploration (TRIPLE) project to develop an autonomous, robotic system for contamination-free exploration of these lakes and, prospectively, for exploration of the oceans beneath the ice crust of the icy moons Europa and Enceladus. Twenty-eight development teams from Germany are currently involved in the project. The TRIPLE system consists of an ice-melting probe, an autonomous underwater vehicle and an astrobiological laboratory where samples can be examined in situ. The TRIPLE-IceCraft meltdown probe is now being tested in Antarctica by a team from RWTH Aachen University and GSI GmbH from Aachen, who were responsible for designing it. At the Neumayer Station III operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), TRIPLE-IceCraft is to penetrate the Ekström Ice Shelf and plunge into the ocean below. TRIPLE-IceCraft was developed as a fully traceable melting probe for drilling down to several hundred metres. read more

Successful launch of MAPHEUS 12

MAPHEUS-12 beim Start

"I give you a GO, a NO-GO, and I read you loud and clear." The countdown for the MAPHEUS 12 sounding rocket at Esrange in northern Sweden begins like this. All stations must check in and ensure that clear communication is possible. Then the process can begin. For MAPHEUS 12, this was planned to last five hours, during which the last modules are installed in the payload and the engines are ‘primed’, among other things.

In the end, the five-hour countdown became six. Further commotion was caused by a defective temperature sensor that was detected when one of the experiments on board was switched on for the first time. read more