University of Bern ready for journey to Jupiter

class=”sc-3778e872-0 gWjAEa”>

“The spacecraft is ready, all the tests have been completed,” Peter Wurz said in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency. He is the director of the Institute of Physics at the University of Bern. Under his leadership, a measuring device for the “Juice” mission was developed and built in Bern. It will follow the launch of the rocket from the European spaceport at Kourou, in French Guiana, from Bern.

Over the next few days, the probe will be placed on the rocket. He then refueled the rocket. “We can only hope everything goes well,” Wurz said. After all, there is always a small risk. For example, refueling with highly explosive fuel is a sensitive issue.

More than 10 years of preparation

The start is a big step for researchers at the University of Bern. They started creating the measuring tools ten years ago. Intellectual work on the mission had begun years ago.

“We look forward to the moment when the first data is received from the instruments,” Wurz continued. But it takes a lot of patience to get there. The journey to Jupiter takes eight years. The probe will not reach the giant planet until July 2031.

the history of our solar system

The researchers want to study three of Jupiter, Ganymede, Kallisto and Europa’s more than 80 moons. The average temperature on the surface of icy moons is below minus 140 degrees Celsius.

“We want to use it to understand the formation of our solar system,” says Wurz. Since Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, understanding its formation is considered important for understanding the formation of the Earth. History is preserved in the ice on Jupiter’s moons. In particular, scientists are investigating the chemical composition of satellites. “Juice” will not land directly on icy moons to take water samples, it will just fly past them.

Search for extraterrestrial life

But the task is also about looking for signs of life. Previous missions to Jupiter show that Ganymede and Europa have oceans beneath the thick ice sheet. And where there are oceans, life is theoretically possible. Wurz expects extraterrestrial life to be discovered within the next 20 years.

Under Wurz’s direction, the Berne researchers built the “Neutral and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NIM)”. NIM will study the chemical and isotopic composition and distribution of particles in the atmospheres of Jupiter’s icy moons, as well as the physical parameters of these atmospheres.

“The biggest challenge for instruments is radioactivity,” explained Wurz. More powerful than anywhere else in our solar system on Jupiter. “Our devices have to withstand this radiation.” Therefore, researchers had to develop and wear protective shields. Additionally, instruments on Jupiter have to deal with large temperature fluctuations, and the probe must be able to harvest enough energy even though the sunlight is about 25 times weaker than on Earth.

In addition to NIM, two more instruments will be on board the “Juice” with the participation of Berner. The Bern-based company has developed a module for the Altimeter Gala that will examine the topography of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede. Additionally, the University of Bern developed the optics and calibration unit for the Submillimeter Wave Instrument (SWI). SWI will study Jupiter’s stratosphere and the atmospheres and surfaces of Jupiter’s icy moons.

(SDA)

Source : Blick