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The JUICE mission
The JUICE mission
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is an interplanetary spacecraft on its way to orbit and study three icy moons of Jupiter: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. It will be the first spacecraft to enter in orbit around a moon other than Earth's Moon: Ganymede.
Prof. Luciano Iess is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the 3GM experiment, to study the Gravity and Geophysics of Jupiter and Galilean Moons.
JUICE is the first interplanetary spacecraft to the outer solar system launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) and will be the first to orbit a moon other than Earth's moon.
Launched on 14 April 2023, it is expected to arrive in the Jupiter system in July 2031, after four gravity assist and 8 years of interplanetary cruise.
In the last phase of the mission, the spacecraft will enter orbit around Ganymede for its close-up science mission. During that phase, the gravity field of the moon can be determined to very high accuracy, shedding light to the interior structure of the icy moon.
Scientific publications
Scientific publications
Cappuccio, P., A. Hickey, D. Durante, M. Di Benedetto, L. Iess, C. Plainaki, et al. (2020). Ganymede’s gravity field, exosphere, rotations and tides from JUICE’s 3GM experiment simulation, Planetary and Space Science 187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2020.104902
De Marchi, F., G. Di Achille, G. Mitri, P. Cappuccio, I. Di Stefano, et al. (2021). Observability of Ganymede's gravity anomalies related to surface features by the 3GM experiment onboard ESA's JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) mission. Icarus 354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114003
Cappuccio, P., M. di Benedetto, D. Durante, and L. Iess (2022). Callisto and Europa gravity measurements from JUICE 3GM experiment simulation, The Planetary Science Journal 3, 199. https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac83c4
Di Stefano, I., P. Cappuccio, M. Di Benedetto, and L. Iess (2022). A test of general relativity with ESA's JUICE mission. Advances in Space Research 70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2022.05.005
De Marchi, F., P. Cappuccio, G. Mitri, and L. Iess (2022). Frequency-dependent Ganymede’s tidal Love number detection by JUICE’s 3GM experiment and implications for the subsurface ocean thickness. Icarus 386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2022.115150
De Filippis, U., M. Di Bendetto, L. Iess, P. Cappuccio, M. Pecora, et al. (2024). Monitoring JUICE deployment operations with high-accuracy accelerometer data. Acta Astronautica 225, 719–728. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2024.09.047
Cappuccio, P., A. Sesta, M. Di Benedetto, D. Durante, U. De Filippis, et al. (2025). Analysis of first radio science data from the KaT instrument of the 3GM Experiment During JUICE's Early Cruise Phase, Aerospace 2025, 12(1), 56. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace12010056
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