Original subtitles

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- [Narrator] The search for life

within our solar system continues unabated.

Scientists are following the signs for water,

either deep oceans or hot springs,

where life can evolve.

(water surges)

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There are exciting candidates to explore,

the icy moons of Jupiter, oceans in the sky.

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(sonic whirring)

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Orbiting the giant Jupiter are three prime candidates:

Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system,

Callisto, once thought to be dead,

may harbor a salty ocean,

and the active Europa,

with its plumes of water erupting into space.

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The European Space Agency is about to launch a probe

to investigate these three potential sites,

a daring mission called JUICE.

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- JUICE is the Jupiter icy moon explorer,

so is the first large mission

of the Cosmic Vision Program of the European Space Agency,

and has the objective to study the Jupiter system

and three of the Galilean moons, three icy moons,

which are Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

- This mission is of particular importance

for the European industry

because this is the first time

that Europe is going to Jupiter.

So we are supporting the European Space Agency

and beyond the European scientific community

in their endeavor to go to Jupiter

and explore Jupiter and their moons.

- The scientific objective of JUICE are multiple.

So, first of all, we have humanity

always pose itself a question,

"Are we alone in the universe?

Is there life outside Earth?"

To respond to this question,

first, we need to answer to another question.

Are environments where life can be sustained

before going and search for life?

And this is one of the main objective for JUICE,

to search if on the environment,

on the ocean world of Europa and Ganymede,

there are the condition to sustain life.

Now, from the past missions,

we know that some of this condition are fulfilled,

and we want to go with JUICE to investigate even deeper

and to make sure that this condition are there.

And this condition as, for example,

there is water, there is liquid water,

there is a source of energy inside the planet,

so there is energy.

There are the chemical compounds,

which are needed to sustain life,

the life as we know, so based on carbon,

and is a protected, is a stable environment,

because it is under the crust of the moons.

So once these four elements are fulfilled,

there is the probability that life will be sustained

outside Earth is very high.

The other objective of JUICE

is to study the Jupiter system in its integrality

as seen as a miniaturized solar system, if you want.

We have a gas giant with bodies

that go around this body,

and studying the interaction

of the gas giant with these bodies,

we can understand better, for example,

the development of our solar system,

how it was born, how it works, and et cetera.

- So JUICE is a very exciting mission.

So we are going to explore Jupiter in details.

And in particular, I would like to know

whether there are conditions hospitable for life

around the gas giant like Jupiter.

And we are going to focus that on the three icy moons,

which are Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

And we would like to know whether inside those moons,

there are conditions which are interesting for life.

And we are going in particular,

to explore the liquid water,

which are underneath the crust of those moons.

- [Manuela] In the past,

there were other missions that,

they analyzed the Jupiter system

like Galileo, for example,

has given us important information

to build the JUICE mission.

There is also Cassini that passed by

that we gather a lot of data also from it,

and also from observation from Earth,

also observation from Hubble, for example,

has provided us lots of data

which are precious to build JUICE

and to build also the profile of the mission,

to know what we are going to study.

- We have in total 10 scientific instruments on JUICE,

and basically we will observe Jupiter and its moons

in all possible wavelengths

and type of observations that we can do.

So we have a number of telescopes in all wavelengths.

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We have a hydrometer to sense the atmosphere,

the structure of the winds of Jupiter and their moons.

And we have electric and magnetic sensors.

Some of them will be deployed

at the tip of a Magnetometer Boom.

So RIME is this big antenna

that you see there deployed just behind us.

It is rudder antenna that is working

at a very low wavelength, nine megahertz.

So, for that to happen,

you need a very long piece of antenna

that will be able to sound very deep below the surface,

the internal structure of the moons,

in particular, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede.

The objective is to try and locate the liquid water ocean

that is underneath the icy crust of these moons.

As of today, we're still not sure how deep

we have to dig, let's say, to find this ocean,

and this antenna will help us figure out

at which depth we can find this ocean.

- At the moment, the nominal science

is for a scene to last four years.

In these four years,

Jupiter will make all the investigation.

It will make some flybys of Europa, flybys of Callisto,

and then we'll go into the details

of the analysis of Ganymede.

We stay in orbit around Ganymede

for a good part of the Jupiter tour.

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- [Narrator] JUICE will start at science mission

about six months prior to entering orbit around Jupiter,

making observations as it approaches its destination.

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Once in the Jovian system,

a gravity assist flyby

of Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede,

also the largest moon in the solar system,

will help JUICE enter orbit around the gas giant.

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During its operations, the probe

will make two flybys of Europa in July 2032.

Europa has the strongest evidence

of an ocean of liquid water

under its icy shell.

JUICE will study the moon's active zones,

surface composition, geology,

and the plasma environment around the moon.

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A sequence of Callisto flybys will then be used

to study this ancient cratered world

that may also harbor a sub-surface ocean,

but will also change the angle of JUICE's orbit,

making it possible to investigate

the polar regions of Jupiter.

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Now that the probe is fully assembled,

it has to be thoroughly flight-tested

to ensure its survivability

because the giant's magnetosphere

traps an intense and dangerous radiation environment.

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- This milestone is very important because here,

we have the spacecraft, it's integrated, is ready.

We have all the 10 instruments are delivered, are there.

All the platform units are there.

The antennas is all in place.

So the spacecraft is ready

for the test campaign to verify finally

that everything's work as expected

within the performances they are expecting.

And this one year from launch,

so this is a very important miles.

It's basically integrated, is there,

and we can carry on with the test phase.

- So we start first with electromagnetic compatibility test.

The goal is to verify that the spacecraft

as a sufficiently low level of electromagnetic perturbations

because a number of instruments of JUICE

will sense electric and magnetic fields of Jupiter,

and we do not want the spacecraft

to be a source of perturbation for that.

After that we will do a number of mechanical tests.

It will be done over summer.

Here, the goal is to verify that the spacecraft

can survive the launch environment

that will be imposed by Ariane 5

when we will launch to Jupiter.

- It is true that the JUICE spacecraft

that we can see on the background

is going to be launched in space,

meaning that it's not like for aircraft.

We can repair something

after a couple of hours of working.

We need to make sure that before we launch,

everything will work properly as expected.

- And then there will be additional tests,

like a vibration test,

including with the solar rays,

so that will be quite exciting.

We have also what we call EMC test,

so to make sure that the spacecraft is quiet

from the electromagnetic point of view.

It's very important for the science of the mission,

and additional tests, like communication

between the spacecraft and the ESOC flight control team,

that we need to control the spacecraft once it flights.

So all these tests will take place

in the coming 10 months,

and after that, hopefully,

the spacecraft will be declared ready for launch

and we'll ship the spacecraft

to its final destination on Earth,

which is the French Guiana space spot.

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- [Narrator] Replicating the environs of space

is no easy task here on Earth.

At ESA's test center, ESTEC in the Netherlands

is the large space simulator,

which can model the vacuum of space

and simulate both the extreme heat and cold of deep space.

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It is Europe's largest vacuum chamber

and its internal black panels,

which are filled with liquid nitrogen,

were used to cool the environment down

to around minus 180 degrees Celsius.

To test against extreme heat,

lamps are used to raise the temperature

up to 250 degrees Celsius.

- JUICE, in order to fly to Jupiter,

will do some gravity assist

around several planets,

among them the Earth and Venus,

which is very close to the sun.

And in fact, all the electronics inside the spacecraft

are supposed to work properly

in a certain range of temperature.

And the thermal design of the JUICE spacecraft

aims at protecting this unit

from the very harsh environment, cold, hot,

for this unit, in order for them to work properly,

when we will start to do science at the Jupiter as humans.

- To reproduce the heat side of space,

so when we go close to the sun, we simulate the sun.

And in order to do so, we have a set of lamps,

very powerful lamps that are reflected

in a 121 mirrors that can be reconfigured

depending on the mission characteristics.

And in this case, we simulate the heat of the sun

while the spacecraft goes through Venus.

Why Venus?

Because the JUICE mission is doing a flyby in Venus

before going finally to Jupiter.

- Yeah, so when I saw JUICE going to the space simulator,

I had a mixed feeling, of course,

because it was a very scary moment.

It's a little bit like your baby spacecraft,

so you are a bit scared that something will go wrong.

But at the same time, you know that the team,

in particular, the test center people,

they know what they are doing.

So it's quite a secure activity.

So it was a mixed feeling, but you always feel nervous

when you see the spacecraft going

into the large space simulator.

- And in addition to that, we have also some requirements

coming from the environment itself of Jupiter,

like temperature and radiation.

Jupiter is a very aggressive radiation environment

that is making the whole design of a spacecraft

even more complex.

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- [Narrator] Jupiter has the largest magnetosphere

in the solar system,

18,000 times more powerful than Earth.

In combination with the sulfur dioxide ejected by the moon,

the space around Jupiter is loaded with plasma.

The magnetosphere also traps and accelerates particles,

forming an intense radiation field

that is thousands of times more powerful

than Earth's Van Allen belt.

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The result is a very hazardous environment

for spacecraft, and potentially humans.

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- After that, we will also test the propulsion system

in order to be sure that it is leak-tight

and fully operational when placed

into a flight configuration.

We will do a second thermal vacuum test

in a chamber very close to this facility in October,

in order to verify in pressure and temperature conditions

and full flight configuration that the spacecraft

is behaving nominally in all functions.

And finally, after having tested the spacecraft

in all these variant environments,

we will verify your last time

that from a functional perspective,

the spacecraft behaves nominally

and is ready for shipment to the launch site.

- [Narrator] That launch site is Europe's Spaceport

in Kourou in French Guiana, where the venerable Ariane 5

will lift JUICE into space.

It will also be the final launch

of the Ariane 5 Rocket Series,

one of the most reliable launch systems,

with 112 launches and just five partial

or complete failures.

The Ariane 5 heavy lift vehicle has launched many

of the most important space probes,

including the Rosetta Mission,

and most recently, the Webb Space Telescope.

(rocket launcher roaring)

It will be replaced by the Ariane 6 heavy lift booster.

- JUICE will be launched next year,

in 2023, in April, the beginning of April.

The launch window will open around the 5th of April

and will stay open for about three weeks

because of celestial mechanics.

And then the spacecraft, before being injected

into the transfer orbit to Jupiter,

will have to acquire more speed,

and we will need to do a certain amount of gravity assist

to the inner planets of the solar system.

We'll do gravity assist, which will be a first,

which will be a Moon-Earth gravity assist.

And there will be a Venus gravity assist,

other two flybys of Earth, and then will be projected

to the insertion orbit to Jupiter for other two years.

So overall, it will take about eight years

to get to Jupiter.

- [Narrator] The gravity assists, 25 in total,

will allow the probe to gain the necessary speed

to reach its final destinations

without consuming the 3,000 kilograms of precious fuel

reserved for course corrections and orbital insertions.

JUICE will arrive at Jupiter in 2031,

followed by a proposed orbital insertion

around Ganymede in 2034,

all part of the European Cosmic Vision program.

- The Cosmic Vision program has objective

of studying also other worlds.

So it will be complementary to future mission,

to act to a mission currently in development,

like PLATO, like ARIEL, like SMILE,

and be complementary with the future missions,

whether be envisioned for the study of Venus,

with ATHENA, for example,

for the study of the universe,

with LISA for the study of the gravitational waves.

So it will be complementary

to have a full and round information

on astronomy and planetary science.

And it will be also part of the inspiration

that the Cosmic Vision program wants to transmit

to the scientific community, to the public.

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So JUICE has been developed

by a huge industrial consortium

to build the spacecraft itself.

So in particular, we have Airbus France,

which is the main contractor to build the spacecraft,

and which is made 95% by European companies.

It's about over a hundred companies from Europe

and about the 5% of contribution from United States.

The JUICE embarks 10 scientific payloads.

And the payloads are contribution

from leading funding agency,

which are the space agencies.

So in particular, we have CNES.

There is Italian Space Agency, DLR, German Space Agency.

There is a UK Space Agency, a Swedish Space Agency.

And we have also contribution on an instrument

and other contribution from NASA,

as well as from JAXA and also from the Israeli Space Agency.

And each of these scientific consortium is built

by other institution from as well over Europe.

So we have also contribution from Austria, from Belgium,

is a European-wide consortium.

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- [Narrator] Over time, JUICE's orbit around Ganymede

will naturally decay.

Eventually, there will not be enough propellant

to maintain it, and it will make

a grazing impact onto the surface in late 2035.

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JUICE will not be alone in its mission.

NASA is also launching a probe to the same locale.

However, its primary goal will be

to study Europa exclusively.

The mission is the Europa Clipper.

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Due for launch two years after JUICE,

the Europa Clipper will ride a SpaceX Falcon Heavy.

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This time, the probe will utilize Mars

for a gravity assist in 2025,

then Earth a year later,

arriving in the Jovian system in 2030,

a year ahead of JUICE.

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Due to the harsh radiation environment,

the Clipper will not orbit Europa

but instead orbit Jupiter

and make multiple passes of Europa,

44 encounters over three and a half years.

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Utilizing the other Jovian moons for gravity

assists the Clipper, which will adjust its orbit

to pass by Europa in various altitudes

from 2,700 kilometers to a mere 25 kilometers,

where it will be able to pass through the water plumes

erupting from the surface.

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It will carry nine instruments,

including thermal and radar imaging,

ultraviolet spectroscopy, and surface dust analyzer.

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- This allows us to have a mission that's many years long

and to collect and transmit lots and lots of data.

As Europa orbits Jupiter, it flexes

and we could measure the gravitational change of Europa

by encountering Europa at different points in its orbit.

On a typical flyby,

we would turn on our remote sensing instruments,

we would image the surface,

we would interrogate the surface with spectroscopy,

and we would do the same thing on the way out.

And we would essentially rinse and repeat

and do this many, many times

until we understand Europa globally.

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- Because once we have investigated

whether life can be sustained on the icy moons,

in Europa or Ganymede,

then there could be other missions

that will go to analyze more in-depth

if life is really there,

maybe with penetrators, with rovers,

with sample return missions.

And one of the objective also of Cosmic Vision

is to be an inspirator for future missions.

Also, for example, return for example,

why not on the icy moons of Jupiter?

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