A new step forward for the European mission that will study Jupiter. The Janus telescope was delivered today to the Italian Space Agency by Leonardo, an Italian contribution to the Juice (Jupiter Icy moons Explorer) mission of the European Space Agency’s 2015-2025 Cosmic Vision Program. Janos is now ready to be sent to France for the last tests before it is integrated into the probe that will include 11 other experiments on board, 3 of which are under Italian responsibility and one in cooperation with France and Italy. Juice is currently scheduled to launch in 2023 and will target Jupiter where it will arrive in 2029 for an operational period of 3 years. Juice will make detailed observations of the gas giant and its three largest moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. “The Janus instrument optical chamber, under Italian responsibility, will allow an in-depth study of the icy satellites of Jupiter. – Europa, Ganymede and Callisto – which are very interesting from the point of view of searching for environments capable of hosting any life form” comments Barbara Negri, Head of Human Flight and Scientific Instrumentation at ASI. Janus, Jovis acronym, Amorum ac Natorum Undique Scrutator was created By Leonardo, under the responsibility of the ASI and with the contribution and scientific guidance of the Parthenope University of Naples and the National Institute of Astrophysics (Inaf).
The telescope will soon join the Majis (Jupiter and Moon imaging spectrometer) that was delivered last summer. The
“These two instruments were designed by Leonardo with funding and coordination from ASI and scientific supervision from INAF,” Assi explains. The Janus instrument is an improved optical camera to study the global, regional and local morphology of the surface of Jupiter’s icy moons To monitor the planet’s atmosphere. For this purpose, it was equipped with a system of 13 filters (5 broadband and 8 narrowband) distributed in the spectral range from visible to near infrared (0.34 – 1.08 μm). Furthermore, the telescope’s diffracted reflective system defines a rectangular field of view of 1.29° x 1.72° and allows to reach a spatial resolution of 7 m, in the orbital phase around Ganymede at 500 km from the surface, and about 10 km for images. The atmosphere of Jupiter. Janus will therefore allow “to obtain multispectral images with a resolution and a length of 50 times better than in the past, ensuring remarkable steps forward in the knowledge of these alien worlds” confirms the Italian Space Agency.
After the latest joint inspections and examinations Written by Issa, Assi, Inaf and Leonardo Janos has been given the go-ahead to move it to Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, to be integrated aboard the spacecraft in the coming weeks.” Raphael Mognolo, Head of the Usr Unit – Scientific and Robotic Exploration Satellites at ASI and the agency responsible for coordinating the Leonardo team and international partners to achieve the Janus instrument.
The Italian Leonardo is the Industrial Director of Machine Awareness, With the contribution of subsystems from Dlr of Berlin, Csic-Iaa of Granada and Cei-Open University of Milton Keynes. The Italian, German and English space agencies – ASI, Dlr and Uksa – together with the Spanish Ministry of Research, are the main funders of the project. Janus was developed by an international team made up of institutes and researchers in Italy, Germany, Spain, Great Britain, France, USA, Japan and Israel. The team is led by Pascual Palumbo, of Parthenope University in Naples, surrounded by Vincenzo Della Corte of the INAF-IAPs and also includes participants from other Inaf institutes (Oapd, Oar and Oac), Cisas-University of Padua and other research institutes and universities.
Once launched, Juice’s mission will take 7 years to reach Jupiter and its moon system and will remain in the gas giant’s orbit for at least 3 years., during which detailed observations of the planet and its natural satellites will be made, to allow the international scientific community to formulate more accurate theories regarding planet formation conditions and life formation processes. Ganymede, for example, is a moon so large that it is considered an almost nano-planet., with very special properties such as the presence of a thin oxygen-rich atmosphere and subterranean oceans – which likely host life forms – and is the only moon in the solar system that possesses its own magnetic field. All this makes it very interesting for the scientific community. “Let’s go back to Jupiter with high-tech devices,” commented Enrico Suita, Head of Research and Development for Leonardo’s Photovoltaic and Space Technologies.. “Following the success of the NASA ‘Juno’ mission with our Jiram camera on board, these days, after the Majis spectrometer, the Janus telescope for the Esa ‘Juice mission also leaves our plant at Campi Bisenzio to perform the latest testing in external laboratories and then be integrated into the probe. We We are very proud of the photovoltaic sensors that contribute more and more to the study and knowledge of our solar system and the universe.”
