JUICE will make a 7.5-year journey into deep space to map out the planet and find out whether its moons have the conditions to sustain life
Ynet reports that In first, Israel is to send a complete electronics system on a deep space mission, as part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) historic mission to planet Jupiter.
On April 14, 3:15pm local time, the ESA will launch the JUICE spacecraft on a mission to deep space to planet Jupiter, with technologies and scientific research funded by the Israel Space Agency and the Innovation, Science, and Technology Ministry.
The technologies will include Israeli company AccuBeat’s USO clock, which will constitute a central component in groundbreaking experiments to be conducted by the Weizmann Institute of Science
The spacecraft will be launched atop an Ariane 5 launcher and embark on a 900 million kilometer journey to the planet Jupiter where it will orbit its moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto over four years, in what is the European Space Agency's biggest and most prestigious mission to date. The JUICE mission contains 12 scientific experiments, including an Israeli experiment led by the Weizmann Institute of Science. The experiments are designed to investigate, among others, whether subterranean oceans exist on Jupiter's moons and whether they harbor the conditions necessary for life.
The Israel Space Agency in the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology joined up with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to conduct groundbreaking scientific experiments on the JUICE mission.
The Israel Space Agency has funded the development and manufacture of AccuBeat's USO instrument, as well as the scientific experiment of Professor Yohai Kaspi of the Weizmann Institute of Science, the principal investigator for atmospheric hydrodynamics in the mission, which will use the USO instrument.
The USO instrument from AccuBeat, the sole maker of atomic clocks in Israel, and one of only five manufacturers on the globe, is the most accurate space oscillator in the world for the measurements required. The instrument, which incorporates a GM3 system supplied by the Italian Space Agency, enables the spacecraft to perform a series of experiments, while also functioning as part of the spacecraft's global communications system with the earth.
Source - Ynet/Twitter - Image - European Space Agency