Previous discussions over the last two days:
ESA’s Juice lifts off on quest to discover secrets of Jupiter’s icy moons
11–20 of 71 posts
Re: ESA’s Juice lifts off on quest to discover secrets of Jupiter’s icy moons
#12Wow, 11 years to Jupiter. I wish we had better propulsion systems. EDIT: This wasn't meant to disrespect the ESA mission. I'm just sad that the outer planets are years away, rather than the hours, days, weeks or months of science fiction.
8 years, not 11. > Arrival at Jupiter - July 2031 https://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/im...
I stand corrected. I erroneously picked up 2034 from the timeline. But the point still stands; 8 years is a depressingly long time. If we base missions on the discoveries of previous missions, there is an 8-year minimum gap between missions.
I'm just hoping we find evidence of extraterrestrial life in my lifetime, and at this rate, we'll be cutting it close..
Re: ESA’s Juice lifts off on quest to discover secrets of Jupiter’s icy moons
#13Wow, 11 years to Jupiter. I wish we had better propulsion systems. EDIT: This wasn't meant to disrespect the ESA mission. I'm just sad that the outer planets are years away, rather than the hours, days, weeks or months of science fiction.
One may count electric propulsion as a "better" propulsion system, but sadly it was a poor fit for Juice due to the very tight power budget.
Even with those gigantic solar arrays, energy management on Juice is extremely challenging. Once in the vicinity of Jupiter, the spacecraft will be powered by less than 4% of the solar flux it receives in earth orbit.
Re: ESA’s Juice lifts off on quest to discover secrets of Jupiter’s icy moons
#14Has there ever been a major unmanned project like this that blew up on takeoff/failed in orbit in recent years? I was listening to the huge list of gear they put on this thing by a project lead and the years of hard work by scientists and it would have been heartbreaking if it failed catastrophically. https://youtu.be/Ljh2BKdjpmE
There were a few Earth Observation missions that didn't make orbit about 10-15 years ago. This was due to a failure of the Taurus-XL fairing separation.
The orbiting carbon observatory (OCO) failed to reach orbit in 2009 [1]. It got a replacement (a good thing, given how important these measurements are.
Glory [2] would have had a really cool polarimiter (measuring light polariasation as well as radiance, in a range of different directions, but it failed in 2011 for the same reason as OCO. Unfortunately, it didn't get a replacement.
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbiting_Carbon_Observatory
Re: ESA’s Juice lifts off on quest to discover secrets of Jupiter’s icy moons
#15Has there ever been a major unmanned project like this that blew up on takeoff/failed in orbit in recent years? I was listening to the huge list of gear they put on this thing by a project lead and the years of hard work by scientists and it would have been heartbreaking if it failed catastrophically. https://youtu.be/Ljh2BKdjpmE
During the JWST streams I recall hearing this is why they went with the Ariane 5 as it is the most reliable launch platform. It might not be fancy, reusable or even fastest or most powerful, but it will reliably lift the payload, not explode, and deliver it to orbit at just the right speed. Same rocket was used for Juice.
Re: ESA’s Juice lifts off on quest to discover secrets of Jupiter’s icy moons
#16[deleted]
Re: ESA’s Juice lifts off on quest to discover secrets of Jupiter’s icy moons
#17Wow, 11 years to Jupiter. I wish we had better propulsion systems. EDIT: This wasn't meant to disrespect the ESA mission. I'm just sad that the outer planets are years away, rather than the hours, days, weeks or months of science fiction.
This was an intentional choice for efficiency and to allow more science at the destination, “the final flyby.. will be 3700 km from Earth in November 2026” [1]
Really disappointing that this is top comment tbh.
[1] https://sci.esa.int/web/juice/-/58815-juices-journey-to-jupi...
Re: ESA’s Juice lifts off on quest to discover secrets of Jupiter’s icy moons
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
8 years, not 11. > Arrival at Jupiter - July 2031 https://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/im...
I stand corrected. I erroneously picked up 2034 from the timeline. But the point still stands; 8 years is a depressingly long time. If we base missions on the discoveries of previous missions, there is an 8-year minimum gap between missions. I'm just hoping we find evidence of extraterrestrial life in my lifetime, and at this rate, we'll be cutting it close..
Europa Clipper, which weighs about the same, is planned to make the same trip in five and a half years, and could have done it in less than three if it had launched on SLS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_Clipper#Launch_and_traj...
Ariane 5 is not particularly powerful as interplanetary launchers go.
Re: ESA’s Juice lifts off on quest to discover secrets of Jupiter’s icy moons
#19Wow, 11 years to Jupiter. I wish we had better propulsion systems. EDIT: This wasn't meant to disrespect the ESA mission. I'm just sad that the outer planets are years away, rather than the hours, days, weeks or months of science fiction.
This was an intentional choice for efficiency and to allow more science at the destination, “the final flyby.. will be 3700 km from Earth in November 2026” [1] Really disappointing that this is top comment tbh. [1] https://sci.esa.int/web/juice/-/58815-juices-journey-to-jupi...
What? How does getting there more slowly mean more science at the destination? And if so, why is Europa Clipper going to get there much faster?
Re: ESA’s Juice lifts off on quest to discover secrets of Jupiter’s icy moons
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nasa are supposedly working on it but that hasn't meant much since the 60s. Maybe inequality will breed a billionaire with a hard-on for nuclear propulsion?
it's a shame nuclear detonations in space are banned (for obvious reasons)