ESA’s JUICE (JUpiter ICy-moon Explorer) mission, built by Airbus, which is planned to make detailed observations of Jupiter and its three large ocean-bearing moons, has managed to finally deploy the 16 m radar antenna for the Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (RIME). ESA reported on 28 April that a stuck pin was thought to have caused the jammed antenna. After attempts to shake and thermally free the pin, controllers fired a non-explosive actuator into the jammed bracket, the shock of which loosened the pin enough for the antenna to unfold. Another actuator fired later to complete the antenna’s deployment on May 12.
JUICE radar antenna is finally deployed. Courtesy: ESA
While JUICE has been recovered, NASA JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) formally announced (on 12 May) the ending of the Lunar Flashlight mission. It had been unable to achieve its planned polar orbit around the moon because its propulsion system – using a new green propellant Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-Toxic (ASCENT) – failed to produce the required thrust. The JPL originally noted that three of the four thrusters on the Lunar Flashlight cubesat were producing less thrust than expected due to suspected obstructions in lines feeding in propellant.
