The Radio & Plasma Wave Investigation (RPWI) for the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE)

Abstract The Radio & Plasma Wave Investigation (RPWI) onboard the ESA JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) is described in detail. The RPWI provides an elaborate set of state-of-the-art electromagnetic fields and cold plasma instrumentation, including active sounding with the mutual impedance and Langmuir probe sweep techniques, where several different types of sensors will sample the thermal plasma properties, including electron and ion densities, electron temperature, plasma drift speed, the near DC electric fields, and electric and magnetic signals from various types of phenomena, e.g., radio and plasma waves, electrostatic acceleration structures, induction fields etc. A full wave vector, waveform, polarization, and Poynting flux determination will be achieved. RPWI will enable characterization of the Jovian radio emissions (including goniopolarimetry) up to 45 MHz, has the capability to carry out passive radio sounding of the ionospheric densities of icy moons and employ passive sub-surface radar measurements of the icy crust of these moons. RPWI can also detect micrometeorite impacts, estimate dust charging, monitor the spacecraft potential as well as the integrated EUV flux. The sensors consist of four 10 cm diameter Langmuir probes each mounted on the tip of 3 m long booms, a triaxial search coil magnetometer and a triaxial radio antenna system both mounted on the 10.6 m long MAG boom, each with radiation resistant pre-amplifiers near the sensors. There are three receiver boards, two Digital Processing Units (DPU) and two Low Voltage Power Supply (LVPS) boards in a box within a radiation vault at the centre of the JUICE spacecraft. Together, the integrated RPWI system can carry out an ambitious planetary science investigation in and around the Galilean icy moons and the Jovian space environment. Some of the most important science objectives and instrument capabilities are described here. RPWI focuses, apart from cold plasma studies, on the understanding of how, through electrodynamic and electromagnetic coupling, the momentum and energy transfer occur with the icy Galilean moons, their surfaces and salty conductive sub-surface oceans. The RPWI instrument is planned to be operational during most of the JUICE mission, during the cruise phase, in the Jovian magnetosphere, during the icy moon flybys, and in particular Ganymede orbit, and may deliver data from the near surface during the final crash orbit.

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Publication Details

Journal
Space Science Reviews
Published
2024-12-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-024-01110-0
Citations
7
Primary Topic
Astro and Planetary Science
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.32

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article

The Radio & Plasma Wave Investigation (RPWI) for the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE)

Jens Birch, Laurent Lamy, J. Laifr, Masayuki Fujii et al.
7 citations
Space Science Reviews
Astro and Planetary Science
2.32
article

The Radio & Plasma Wave Investigation (RPWI) for the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE)

Jens Birch, Laurent Lamy, J. Laifr, Masayuki Fujii, Yasumasa Kasaba, Vincent Leray, O. Sene, Malik Mansour, Ivana Kolmašová, A. P. Dimmock, T. Chust, B. Holback, D. J. Andrews, J. E. S. Bergman, D. Alison, Harvey Wong, P. Szewczyk, A. Marchaudon, E. Vigren, L. Hess, Johan Fredriksson, Hiroyuki Mizuno, Jorge Lopez Trescastro, P. Louarn, Urban Wiklund, Sven Landström, R. Gill, Gabriel Giono, T. Hachemi, Johan Söderström, Aude-Lyse Millet, Mika Holmberg, Nickolay Ivchenko, Joachim Saur, Michał Borys, M. Tokarz, Fuminori Tsuchiya, Aurélien Clémençon, A. Vaivads, B. Grison, N. Geyskens, R. Modolo, М. А. Балихин, Pierre Henri, Jean‐Denis Techer, Tomas Nyberg, Paolo Palma, Hanna Rothkaehl, Baptiste Cecconi, Marcin Duda, I. Zouganelis, L. Åhlén, Anirudha V. Sumant, Ludivine Leclercq, Akihiko Sawamura, Kiran Kumar Kovi, P. Trávnı́ček, Lorenz Roth, Satoshi Fujishima, Ondřej Santolík, Bruno J. Lemaire, Hajime Kita, Marek Morawski, Marek Ossowski, L. Bylander, Anita Kullen, Š. Štverák, Grzegorz Greczyński, M. Morooka, Martina Berglund, Igor Benko, Tetsuya Shimoyama, P. Canu, Christophe Berthod, J. Souček, Tomasz Kowalski, Y. V. Khotyaintsev, Thomas Nilsson, Atsushi Kumamoto, Alessandro Retinò, C. M. Jackman, O. Le Contel, V. Cripps, W. Puccio, A. I. Eriksson, Olivier Le Duff, T. Kuciński, Tomasz Barciński, K. H. Yearby, D. Ohlsson, Lucas Grosset, Ulrich Taubenschuss, J. L. Rauch, Stéphane Gomis, X. Bonnin, Brett A. Neilan, Yuki Sato, Alexis Jeandet, Babak Bakhit, N. J. T. Edberg, C. M. Cully, Petr Hellinger, Philippe Garnier, T. Suzuki, Masatoshi Namiki, Emmanuel De Leon, Laurent Varizat, Lina Hadid, Patrizio Dazzi, Corentin Louis, Jerzy Grygorczuk, P. Gare, Claire Baskevitch, Tomoki Kimura, Jacqueline H. Jansky, Louis Richard, E. P. G. Johansson, Nicolás André, F. Johansson, Radek Lán, Olle Björneholm, Jan‐Erik Wahlund, Fabrice Colin, Gaëtan Wattieaux, I. Torralba, Ingo Mueller‐Wodarg, Satoshi Yagitani, Fatima Mehrez, R. LeLetty, Jan Davidsson, Hirotsugu Kojima, V. Génot, Amine Rhouni, Yoshizumi Miyoshi, Mathieu Lebassard, Ewelina Ryszawa, A. Roos, Ł. Wiśniewski, Hiroaki Misawa, Yuto Katoh, Jakub Baran, M. André, J. N. Girard, G. Fischer, M. Galand, F. Sahraoui, D. Pelikan, P. Zarka, K. Asai, G. Sou, J. P. Lebreton, S.-E. Jansson, Florence Henry, Björn Mårtensson, K. Tanimoto, S. Osipenco, F. Shiwa, K. Bochra, O. Randrianboarisson
article en
7 citations

Abstract

Abstract The Radio & Plasma Wave Investigation (RPWI) onboard the ESA JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) is described in detail. The RPWI provides an elaborate set of state-of-the-art electromagnetic fields and cold plasma instrumentation, including active sounding with the mutual impedance and Langmuir probe sweep techniques, where several different types of sensors will sample the thermal plasma properties, including electron and ion densities, electron temperature, plasma drift speed, the near DC electric fields, and electric and magnetic signals from various types of phenomena, e.g., radio and plasma waves, electrostatic acceleration structures, induction fields etc. A full wave vector, waveform, polarization, and Poynting flux determination will be achieved. RPWI will enable characterization of the Jovian radio emissions (including goniopolarimetry) up to 45 MHz, has the capability to carry out passive radio sounding of the ionospheric densities of icy moons and employ passive sub-surface radar measurements of the icy crust of these moons. RPWI can also detect micrometeorite impacts, estimate dust charging, monitor the spacecraft potential as well as the integrated EUV flux. The sensors consist of four 10 cm diameter Langmuir probes each mounted on the tip of 3 m long booms, a triaxial search coil magnetometer and a triaxial radio antenna system both mounted on the 10.6 m long MAG boom, each with radiation resistant pre-amplifiers near the sensors. There are three receiver boards, two Digital Processing Units (DPU) and two Low Voltage Power Supply (LVPS) boards in a box within a radiation vault at the centre of the JUICE spacecraft. Together, the integrated RPWI system can carry out an ambitious planetary science investigation in and around the Galilean icy moons and the Jovian space environment. Some of the most important science objectives and instrument capabilities are described here. RPWI focuses, apart from cold plasma studies, on the understanding of how, through electrodynamic and electromagnetic coupling, the momentum and energy transfer occur with the icy Galilean moons, their surfaces and salty conductive sub-surface oceans. The RPWI instrument is planned to be operational during most of the JUICE mission, during the cruise phase, in the Jovian magnetosphere, during the icy moon flybys, and in particular Ganymede orbit, and may deliver data from the near surface during the final crash orbit.

Space Science ReviewsVol. 221(1)
ON Semiconductor (United States) (US), Kanazawa University (JP), Linköping University (SE), Tohoku Institute of Technology (JP), Centrum Badań Kosmicznych (PL), Uppsala University (SE), Université d'Orléans (FR), Argonne National Laboratory (US), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Dublin Institute For Advanced Studies (IE), Swedish Institute of Space Physics (SE), Dornier Flugzeugwerke (Germany) (DE), Berkeley College (US), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (FR), Austrian Academy of Sciences (AT), École Polytechnique (FR), Tokyo University of Science (JP), University of Calgary (CA), Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR), University of Cologne (DE), Institut Superieur de l'Aeronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO) (FR), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FR), Tohoku University (JP), Université Côte d'Azur (FR), Université Paris Cité (FR), Charles University (CZ), Aix-Marseille Université (FR), Kyoto University (JP), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Czech Academy of Sciences, Astronomical Institute (CZ), Office National d'Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales (FR), Laboratoire de Génie Électrique et Électronique de Paris (FR), Sorbonne Université (FR), Space Research Institute (AT), Laboratoire d’études spatiales et d’instrumentation en astrophysique (FR), Laboratoire Plasma et Conversion d'Energie (FR), Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur (FR), Thinfilm (Sweden) (SE), Airbus (Germany) (DE), Astronika (Poland) (PL), Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Atmospheric Physics (CZ), Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers (FR), Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas (FR), Laboratoire atmosphères, milieux, observations spatiales (FR), Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (FR), Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l’Environnement et de l’Espace (FR), AKHAN Semiconductor (United States), European Space Research and Technology Centre (NL), Imperial College London (GB), Nagoya University (JP), KTH Royal Institute of Technology (SE), University of Sheffield (GB), Ventspils University of Applied Sciences (LV), Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
U.S. Department of Energy, Science Foundation Ireland, Swedish National Space Agency, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Uppsala Universitet, Office of Science, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Basic Energy Sciences
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Astro and Planetary Science
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