The vast solar arrays of ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, have completed an important deployment test at Airbus. Each of the two ‘wings’ comprise five 2.5 x 3.5 m panels arranged in a distinctive cross-shape with a total area of 85 square metres. The panels will provide the necessary power to run the spacecraft and operate the science instruments once exploring the Jupiter system. They are also able to withstand temperatures from +110 to -230ºC.

The next step is mechanical testing, where the spacecraft will be vibrated and submitted to sound waves, simulating the extreme stresses of launch.

Juice is scheduled to launch in a 5-25 April 2023 launch window on an Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou. It will reach Jupiter in 2031 and will make detailed observations of the giant gas planet and its three large ocean-bearing moons – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa – with a suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments. The mission will characterise these moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats, explore Jupiter’s complex environment in depth, and study the wider Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants across the Universe.