[News] Antenna gets stuck on Jupiter-bound spaceship

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FILE - This photo released by the European Space Agency shows an Ariane 5 rocket in Kourou, French Guyana, Wednesday, April 12, 2023. (Stephane Corvaja/ESA via AP)(Stephane Corvaja / Associated Press)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A crucial antenna is stuck on a Jupiter-bound spacecraft launched two weeks ago, the European Space Agency reported Friday.
Juice's 52-foot (16-meter) radar antenna extended only a third of its length after liftoff, according to the space agency.

Engineers suspect that a small pin may be sticking out. Flight controllers in Germany plan to start the spacecraft's engine in the hope that the pin will release. They noted that if that maneuver doesn't work, they have plenty of time to solve the problem.

Juice, short for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, won't reach the giant planet until 2031. To get there, he'll travel a roundabout path that includes gravity-assisted flybys of Earth, our Moon, and Venus.

The radar antenna is needed to peer beneath the icy crust of three Jupiter moons believed to harbor subterranean oceans and possibly life, one of the main goals of this nearly $1.8 billion mission. Their targets are Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system.

According to the space agency, everything else is going well with the ship, the size of a small bus. A radio antenna, solar panels, and a 10.6-meter (35-foot) arm have been successfully deployed to measure Jupiter's magnetic field.

The Associated Press Department of Science and Health receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for the content.

 

Link: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/en-espanol/noticias/story/2023-04-28/antena-se-atasca-en-nave-espacial-con-destino-a-jupiter