The ESA JUICE space probe will carry a detector from our institute to Jupiter

The long-awaited launch of the European Space Agency’s space probe JUICE (JUPiter ICy moons Explorer) to Jupiter was conducted on Friday, April 14. It should arrive at its destination in July 2031 and its task will be to study the particle environment around Jupiter and its moons. The probe will carry a total of 10 scientific instruments on board, including the PEP (Particle Environment Package) apparatus, which was constructed with contribution of scientists from the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

The research team from the Institute of Experimental Physics SAS in Košice developed and supplied the so-called anti-coincidence detector module ACM. Its task is to ensure effective detection of particles of lower energies against the background of strong ionizing radiation, especially high-energy electrons from the intense radiation of Van Allen belts of Jupiter.

“Electrons from the radiation belts are able to penetrate even the shielding of scientific instruments and cause false reactions in their sensitive physical sensors. Our ACM detector serves to exclude these false cases from the recording of scientific data,” said one of its designers, Ján Baláž from IEP SAS.

The detector was developed and constructed as part of the ESA-PECS Slovakia project from the program to support Slovakia’s accession process to the European Space Agency. Since October 2022, Slovakia has already become an associate member of ESA, and it should become a full member after seven years of associate membership.

The ESA JUICE probe was be launched into space by the Ariane rocket, which launched from the European Kourou Cosmodrome in French Guiana at 2:15 PM Central European time. The launch of the ambitious ESA JUICE mission was also covered by the SPACE::TALK event program. Those interested could watch the discussion and the live broadcast of the start in Bratislava in the Lab.café at Námestie SNP 25 and in Košice in the premises of the Department of Space Physics IEP SAS, SPACE::LAB on Bulharská street.

More information about SPACE::LAB talks HERE
Original source
See also SME (slovak language article)