The making of Juice – episode 3

ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) was developed and constructed at different sites across Europe. This third episode in ‘The making of Juice’ series takes the viewer behind the scenes of the European space industry and planetary science community involved in the mission.

In this episode we take a walk on the beach near ESA/ESTEC in the Netherlands with Juice Project Manager Giuseppe Sarri. Giuseppe talks about three of the challenges facing Juice: the little solar energy available at Jupiter, the low temperatures and the high radiation environment.

Airbus Defence and Space (NL) in Leiden is responsible for building Juice’s two huge solar arrays, or wings. In this episode we visit the site together with Sam Verstaen, Juice Electrical and Power System Engineer from ESA, and witness an in-line deployment test of one of the massive solar arrays in the clean hall. Airbus AIT Manager, Wolter van der Kant, describes the procedure and the test programme, and Airbus Senior Expert on solar arrays, Ed Bongers, talks about the challenges of designing and building the solar arrays.

November 2023 update: This episode is part of a film project that culminated in a two-hour documentary film released in November 2023.

Access the other episodes of ‘The making of Juice’

Credit: ESA/Lightcurve Films, original music by William Zeitler