Speaker
Description
JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) spacecraft will provide a thorough investigation of the Jupiter system in all its complexity with emphasis on the three potentially ocean-bearing Galilean satellites (Ganymede, Europa and Callisto) and their potential habitability. It will carry the most powerful remote sensing, geophysical, and in situ payload complement ever flown to the outer Solar System. The payload consists of 10 state-of-the-art instruments. One of the main design drivers of JUICE mission is the low solar illumination received at Jupiter. which drives the thermal control, that is designed to cope with hot and cold environments. The thermal control has to cope with a large variation of external environment during the mission (Sun flux from 3323 W/m² in the inner Solar System down to 46 W/m² in Jovian environment) and long eclipses of up to 4.8 hours.
The thermal verification of the Spacecraft included early test of a scale 1:1 Thermal Development Model in cold and hot environment, including the use of a Solar Simulator. In June/July 2021, the Spacecraft Flight Model was tested during 4 weeks, including 5 thermal phases and 2 functional tests. The presentation will give a synthesis of the main outputs of the test and a preliminary assessment of the thermal model correlation with the test data.
