An Advanced UV Spectrograph Concept for the JUICE Ganymede Orbiter Mission, 15-R8324
Principal Investigators
Kurt D. Retherford
G. Randy Gladstone
Mike W. Davis
Steve Persyn
Tommy K. Greathouse
John R. Spencer
Andrew J. Steffl
S. Alan Stern
Greg Dirks
John Eterno
Kristian Persson
Brandon Walther
David White
John Trevino
Greg Winters
Maarten Versteeg
Melissa A. McGrath (NASA/MSFC)
Paul D. Feldman (JHU)
Inclusive Dates: 07/01/12 – Current
Background — SwRI's preliminary concept study for an advanced UV spectrograph (UVS) tailored for the European Space Agency's (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Exploration (JUICE) mission has recently supported an SwRI proposal to NASA's Stand-Alone Mission of Opportunity 2 (SALMON-2) call for contributed JUICE instruments. The JUICE mission launches in 2022 and arrives at Jupiter in 2030, where it conducts a few dozen flybys of Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa and then finally enters orbit around Ganymede. A UVS instrument is in the straw-man payload, since it performs many useful observations of the intriguing atmospheres, aurora, airglow, and surfaces of the Galilean satellites, Jupiter, and gas clouds and plasma tori located in the Jovian magnetosphere. These UV spectral imaging observations address many (>2/3 rds) of the key science objectives of the JUICE mission.
Approach — Instrument pre-Phase A concept work included conducting several UVS instrument trade studies. With the recent Juno-UVS instrument already on its way to Jupiter, SwRI researchers baselined this heritage spectrograph for their concept and refined its mechanical design for radiation shielding and mass optimization. To devise methods for improving scientific performance when operating in Jupiter's harsh radiation environment, SwRI conducted beam-line experiments with shielding mass models at MIT's High Voltage Research Laboratory. Optical ray-trace design studies informed the trade-offs between including in the design a front-end scan mirror, an additional microchannel plate and/or photodiode detectors for extended bandpass coverage, and various aperture sizes for bright source imaging and occultation measurements. A formal technical risk-reduction review (TRR) was held by the SwRI team and was very productive.
Accomplishments — SwRI's proposal titled, "JUICE-UVS: An Ultraviolet Spectrograph for the JUICE Mission," was submitted on September 24. The preparatory work completed several UVS instrument trade studies that results in a low technical risk program and provides excellent advantages for the JUICE payload competition. SwRI expects to learn the results of the award process in late December 2012, or no later than February 2013.
