Airbus, European Space Agency seal deal to build Jupiter probe

PanARMENIAN.Net - Airbus and the European Space Agency have signed the contract that will lead to the construction of a satellite to go to study Jupiter and its icy moons, BBC News reports.

Known as Juice, the mission is due to leave Earth in 2022 and arrive at the giant planet 7.5 years later.

The 350m-euro deal struck between industry and Esa will see the assembly of the 5.5-tonne probe being led from Toulouse in France.

Components and instruments will be sourced from across Europe, however.

There will also be American participation as well, through the U.S. space agency (NASA), and from Japan via its space agency (Jaxa).

When all these contributions are summed - including launch and operations - the full price for the JUpiter ICy moon Explorer is expected to exceed one billion euros.

Tuesday's contract was signed in the presence of Alvaro Gimenez, director of science and robotic exploration at Esa, and Eric Béranger, head of space systems programmes at Airbus Defence and Space.

As prime contractor, Airbus must now pull together a consortium of companies across Europe to build, assemble and test the satellite, making it ready for its launch on an Ariane 5 rocket in six years' time.

Juice will carry a sophisticated scientific payload - including cameras, spectrometers, a laser altimeter and an ice-penetrating radar. The mission will also feature a magnetometer, plasma and particle detectors, as well as radio science hardware.