Historic Lunar Crater Serves as Crucial Testbed for Jupiter Mission
A crater on EarthS Moon, once known as Pasteur T and renamed Anders’ Earthrise Crater in 2018 to honor astronaut William Anders, played a vital role in testing advanced technology for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission.
Nearly six decades after Anders captured the iconic “Earthrise” photograph from lunar orbit, the same crater provided a unique possibility for JUICE to calibrate its scientific instruments. Launched in April 2023, JUICE is on a seven-year journey to Jupiter, expected to reach the gas giant’s orbit in 2031. Its primary objective is to investigate the potential for life within the subsurface oceans of Jupiter’s icy moons: Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
During a carefully timed flyby of the Moon, JUICE utilized the moment to conduct a critical test of its 10 scientific instruments. Among these was the Radar for Icy Moon Exploration (RIME), a elegant instrument designed to penetrate the thick ice shells of Jupiter’s moons and map their subsurface structures. RIME’s sensitivity to electromagnetic interference necessitated a complete shutdown of all other onboard equipment for an eight-minute period as JUICE passed over Anders’ Earthrise Crater.
Initial radar readings from RIME were affected by internal electronic noise from the spacecraft. However, following adjustments to the instrument’s algorithms, the resulting height map of the crater’s terrain proved to be accurate and consistent with data previously collected by NASA’s Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA). this successful validation confirms RIME’s readiness for its primary mission of probing the icy depths of Jupiter’s moons, where scientists hope to find clues about the potential for extraterrestrial life.
JUICE is now continuing its interplanetary trajectory, wich includes a gravity-assist maneuver at Venus before its eventual arrival in the Jovian system. The mission plan involves 35 flybys of Jupiter’s largest moons, culminating in an orbital insertion around ganymede between December 2034 and September 2035.Through these extensive observations, researchers aim to unravel the mysteries of giant planet formation and search for evidence of life beneath the frozen surfaces of Jupiter’s moons.