JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer)
JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) is a spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) to explore Jupiter and its icy moons. It launched in April 2023. The main objectives of JUICE are to investigate the atmosphere and magnetosphere of the largest planet in the solar system, as well as icy moons Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto, focusing on their internal oceans, icy crusts, and potential habitability.
JUICE carries over 10 scientific instruments, one of which is the RPWI (Radio and Plasma Wave Investigation), designed to study plasma environments and electromagnetic waves around Jupiter and its moons. One of key component of RPWI, the High Frequency (HF) receiver, was developed by Tohoku University in Japan. RPWI will investigate the structure of Jupiter’s auroral radio waves, the ionosphere and subsurface structure of the satellites. JUICE is expected to arrive at Jupiter in the early 2030s and begin long-term observations that could offer new insights into the possibility of life in the outer solar system. photo by JAXA
