Journal Article

Jupiter Science Enabled by ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer

Lara, Luisa M., Grodent, Denis, Kammer, Josh, Retherford, Kurt D., Moreno, Raphael, Fouchet, Thierry, Vallat, Claire, Müller-Wodarg, Ingo, Grassi, Davide, Medvedev, Alexander S., Lorente, Rosario, Iess, Luciano, Gérard, Jean-Claude, Rezac, Ladislav, Mura, Alessandro, Santolik, Ondřej, Hueso, Ricardo, Hartogh, Paul, Lellouch, Emmanuel, Wahlund, Jan-Erik, Piccioni, Giuseppe, Altieri, Francesca, Bruzzone, Lorenzo, Fischer, Georg, Kaspi, Yohai, Molyneux, Philippa M., Irwin, Patrick G. J., Palumbo, Pasquale, Giles, Rohini, Dougherty, Michele K., Fletcher, Leigh N., Witasse, Olivier, Hussmann, Hauke, Smirnova, Maria, Galand, Marina, Cazaux, Stéphanie, Drossart, Pierre, Barabash, Stas, Poulet, François, Gurvits, Leonid I., Costa, Marc, Sánchez-Lavega, Agustin, Gladstone, G. Randall, Langevin, Yves, Cavalié, Thibault, Galanti, Eli, Greathouse, Thomas K., Kolmasova, Ivana, Coustenis, Athena, Jones, Geraint

2023

Overview

ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) will provide a detailed investigation of the Jovian system in the 2030s, combining a suite of state-of-the-art instruments with an orbital tour tailored to maximise observing opportunities. We review the Jupiter science enabled by the JUICE mission, building on the legacy of discoveries from the Galileo, Cassini, and Juno missions, alongside ground- and space-based observatories. We focus on remote sensing of the climate, meteorology, and chemistry of the atmosphere and auroras from the cloud-forming weather layer, through the upper troposphere, into the stratosphere and ionosphere. The Jupiter orbital tour provides a wealth of opportunities for atmospheric and auroral science: global perspectives with its near-equatorial and inclined phases, sampling all phase angles from dayside to nightside, and investigating phenomena evolving on timescales from minutes to months. The remote sensing payload spans far-UV spectroscopy (50-210 nm), visible imaging (340-1080 nm), visible/near-infrared spectroscopy (0.49-5.56 μm), and sub-millimetre sounding (near 530-625 GHz and 1067-1275 GHz). This is coupled to radio, stellar, and solar occultation opportunities to explore the atmosphere at high vertical resolution; and radio and plasma wave measurements of electric discharges in the Jovian atmosphere and auroras. Cross-disciplinary scientific investigations enable JUICE to explore coupling processes in giant planet atmospheres, to show how the atmosphere is connected to (i) the deep circulation and composition of the hydrogen-dominated interior; and (ii) to the currents and charged particle environments of the external magnetosphere. JUICE will provide a comprehensive characterisation of the atmosphere and auroras of this archetypal giant planet.

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands,Springer Nature B.V,Springer Verlag,Kluwer Academic Publishers
• Subject: Aerospace Technology and Astronautics / Astrophysics and Astroparticles / Atmosphere / Atmospheres / Atmospheric circulation / Auroras / Aérospatiale, astronomie & astrophysique / Charged particles / Chemistry / Dynamics / Electric discharges / Icy satellites / Infrared spectra / Infrared spectroscopy / Ionosphere / JUICE / Jupiter / Jupiter atmosphere / Jupiter JUICE remote sensing atmosphere aurora composition imaging spectroscopy / Jupiter probes / Magnetospheres / Meteorology / Moon / Near infrared radiation / Near infrared spectroscopy / Observatories / Physical, chemical, mathematical & earth Sciences / Physics / Physics and Astronomy / Physique, chimie, mathématiques & sciences de la terre / Planetary atmospheres / Planetology / Plasma waves / Remote sensing / Sciences of the Universe / Solar occultation / Space Exploration and Astronautics / Space missions / Space science, astronomy & astrophysics / Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics / Stratosphere / Troposphere / Ultraviolet spectroscopy / Upper troposphere / Wave measurement