JUICE

• This is one of the mysteries that the space mission JUICE (for JUpiter ICy moons Explorer), set to be launched from Kourou, French Guiana, on Thursday 13 April 2023 at 12.14 p.m. UT, will look to elucidate.
• Through this mission, the agency has also managed the feat of placing JUICE on the launch pad only 11 years after the project was greenlit.
• France’s team, of which I am a part, also helped develop six of JUICE’s ten state-of-the-art scientific instruments.

Stretching science’s boundaries

Jupiter is both the largest planet in our solar system and the one with the most moons. To date, estimates of their number hover between 82 and 95, most of which have been discovered in the last two decades. JUICE is the first mission to receive more than 1 billion euros of funding as part of the ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme. It seeks to address four main questions:
JUICE was chosen ahead of other proposed missions because it was designed to address the first and last of these questions. The Hubble Space Telescope and NASA’s space probes Voyager, Galileo, Juno have already picked up some clues either by direct observation or deduction.

“Ocean moons” containing more water than the Earth

• NASA’s Galileo was the first to discover water on the moons in 1995.
• Data captured by the space probe revealed gigantic liquid oceans not only under the crusts of its three icy moons, Callisto, Europa and Ganymed, but also on its volcanic moon, Io.


The Galilean moons further enjoy the gravitational energy of Jupiter, creating significant tidal effects and allowing the last two conditions above to be met.

Why Ganymed is the main objective

Ganymed is set to studied in much more depth by JUICE than Callisto and Europa. This is not only because it is the largest moon in the Solar System, but also an ocean moon with its own magnetic field. Similarly to the Earth’s magnetosphere, Ganymede’s has the potential to protect life by diverting the flow of cosmic rays and radiative particles from Jupiter’s radiation belts.

JUICE, a probe of the extreme

• JUICE will also have to cope with extreme temperatures, ranging from +250°C as it flies by Venus to -230°C in the Jovian system.
• To maintain a stable internal temperature, the spacecraft has been coated with a multilayer thermal insulation made out of grey silicon aluminium alloy, earning the probe the nickname “silver beauty”.

An energy problem

• Around Jupiter, which is five times further from the Sun than Earth, the satellite will receive 25 times less solar energy than it would around Earth.
• The spacecraft does not carry a radioactive battery because Europe is not yet able to produce them industrially, unlike the United States, Russia and China.

Ten scientific instruments on board

• Of these instruments, France – with assistance from Italy – chiefly engineered the Moons and Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer (MAJIS).
• This will enable us to identify landing sites for future in situ exploration, and evaluate the structure and dynamics of Jupiter’s atmosphere.
• Finally, it should be noted that JUICE’s plans may be revised based on the latest results from NASA’s Juno mission.

• The energy plan features peak and off-peak pricing for Texas residential customers, allowing them to lower their overall costs by reducing their usage during the peak times of the day.
• The "Surge", or peak period, is from 1:00 PM to 6:59 PM every day, with the "Save", or off-peak periods, represented by the other 18 hours.
• Energy pricing for the "Save" period is a deep discount to the "Surge" periods – as much as 40% to 50% less than the peak pricing.
• The KiwiSurge plan will be published as a time-of-use plan on www.powertochoose.org as well as on the JUICE website at www.juicetx.com .

• HOUSTON, Nov. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Utility Rescue Holdings, Inc., today announced the launch of their newest brand in the portfolio of companies JUICE offering competitive retail electricity service.
• JUICE follows Flagship Power as the second Texas energy brand under Utility Rescue's innovative incubator program with Mothership, which was also recently extended into 2024.
• All JUICE customers are also eligible for bill reduction, rooftop solar, insurance, and other services from the other Utility Rescue companies and affiliates.
• Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Utility Rescue Holdings, Inc. is an integrated financial technology and energy services company dedicated to saving consumers and businesses on their essential monthly services.

• The award, in its 14th year, identifies and emphasizes the world's most important examples of sustainable and ecological design.
• We are honored to have the J+ BOOSTER 2 design recognized by the Green Good Design program."
• The original Good Design program, founded in Chicago in 1950, remains the oldest and most important design awards program worldwide.
• For the 2022 program, the Green Good Design awards program received hundreds of submissions from around the world.