JUICE Astrobiology Mission Update

Since the beginning of the year, the downlink rate of Juice has been dropping dramatically to only 1/6th of usual data rate.

The data rate is currently around 86 kbit/s and in a couple of weeks will be at 43 kbit/s – the same rate Juice will have at Jupiter. By the end of the year, it will as low as 10 kbit/s – which is 10000 times less than the average data rate on mobile phone!

So why are we reaching such low rates?

• The distance to Earth increasing fast with the spacecraft rapidly moving to the other side of the Sun.
• The spacecraft has been relying only on its medium-gain antenna for communications, while the main antenna is acting as a heat shield against the Sun.

“Since last October and the beginning of the very hot cruise phase, Juice has been constantly pointing its large high-gain antenna toward the Sun to protect the spacecraft,” explains Angela Dietz, Juice Spacecraft Operations Manager at ESOC.

“From January 2026, once we are farther from the Sun, we will switch back to the high-gain antenna and put it into operation for the first time. From then on, the data rate will be much more comfortable.”

Learn more about the mission https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Juice

Astrobiology