JUICE, the first European mission already on its way to Jupiter, has a lot of Spanish work behind it.

In April last year, the mission JUICE He flew to Jupiter. The mission of the European Space Agency for the first time sent to the fifth planet of the solar system. In addition, it includes many new features not found in other previous missions. This is a great time to get to know jupiterian system, consisting of Jupiter and its satellites. For this reason, it is very interesting to know that Spanish scientists also participated in the mission.

IN hypertext We had the opportunity to speak with Pablo Lopez Senamor, Airbus CRISA Program Manager. From Airbus Tres Cantos and Getafe accordingly supervised the construction Electric power subsystem (EPS) and radiation protection. In addition, at the Madrid-Barajas facilities, they were involved in the design and construction of the structure and thermal control. satellite.

Thus, a good example of Spanish science is already on its way to Jupiter. He does it based on what has been learned previous missionsbut with more innovations that will give us even more information about this planet that almost has its own solar system.

Airbus Spain’s Spanish contribution to JUICE

The mission of JUICE consists of many parts. On the one hand, the satellite itself, and on the other, everything toolswith which you will get different data about the planet Jupiter. Plus, you need a power system that keeps all of those appliances running, and that’s where Airbus comes into play.

This is not the first time they have collaborated with ESA. In fact, according to López Senamor, most of his work was with her. “Because the whole process democratization of space We have also started working with some private companies,” says the Airbus manager. But most of his work is still with the European Space Agency.

However, like any other company, they had to fill technical description offer their work in those works in which they consider themselves most valuable. Airbus Getafe for the satellite and Tres Cantos for the power subsystem. “We don’t have knowledge about the construction of solar panels, but we know how to work with them.”

This is what prompted them to present themselves as candidates and finally be elected to implement this system. But what exactly does it consist of?

Energy so that the SOK does not stop flying

It is estimated that Jupiter is the last planet that can be reached using solar energy. Missions that went on like those traveler, took advantage of small nuclear reactors. This causes them to have finite energy until their fuel is used up. But also very durable. After all, the two Voyager probes have been in space for more than 50 years and continue to function perfectly, despite some logical incidents.

The problem with Jupiter being the last planet reachable by solar power is that it needs to be very well optimized. According to López Senamor, “every watt counts“.

That’s why it’s so important Power supply subsystem (EPS). It consists of Air Conditioning and Power Distribution Unit (PCDU) and five satellite batteries. The first was entirely developed by Airbus Tres Cantos and the batteries were subcontracted to a British company. ABSL.

How does EPS work?

“PCDU is like miniature electrical system“, – says Lopez Senamor. “Imagine that you have a house in the middle of a field with no access to the electrical grid and you want to feed the television. We would put some solar panels on the roof, and we would have several batteries to provide power when we we don’t have the sun.”

These types of systems contain automatic devices that control the current flowing from various electrical components in the home. The equivalent of this example would be the PCDU, which is responsible for managing the available energy in solar panel and various tools controlled by switches. Thus, if a failure occurs in one of the devices, it does not extend to the rest, neither to the battery nor to the solar panel.

Also, in the specific case of the JUICE flight to Jupiter, the environment is very extreme, so very efficient regulators are used. They, in order to maximize the use of energy, contain a system capable of convert kinetic energy into electrical energy. This kinetic energy, which comes from movement, is obtained with the help of inertial wheels, which help orient the satellite.

In short, in order to make the most of solar energy and not waste it, EPS contains a system that isolates the energy that is distributed to each tool so that failures do not propagate. And, in addition, the energy of the orientation of the satellite is used.

Finally, one of the main features of this EPS is its electromagnetic cleaning. And this is that it is a large source of electromagnetic radiation inside the satellite. It is important to protect it so that these internal radiations are not radiated towards the instruments, as they are very sensitive and their measurements can be changed. To do this, they used a washer system along with materials such as insulating foam, resulting in the quietest styrofoam ESA has ever dealt with. “We are very proud of this,” admits the head of the Airbus CRISA program.

Importance of tool protection

As we have seen, this is the first time ESA has gone to Jupiter, but NASA has done this before with missions like JUNO. The information obtained from all these missions provided those responsible for JUICE with very important information about the levels of radiation that both the satellite and the instruments would have to face. For this reason, starting from this base, Airbus Getafe has been able to develop very effective protection system.

Thanks to the information about the types of particles and the energy they carry, several layers of protection have been created. The first one goes to satellite structureand the second goes to protect tools.

One of the novelties of this shielding system compared to others used before is that it uses elements such as lead and aluminum. Shielding layers were also used for the electrical system, mostly made of aluminium.

“Electrical equipment, by its very nature, must have an enclosure that gives it rigidity to withstand vibrations, shocks and other mechanical stresses during start-up. But in this case, at the EPS level, it was necessary to increase the shielding level and thicken the aluminum layers. We work with this metal because our machine dissipates heat and lead is not such a good heat conductor. The best material with a balance of price, weight and efficiency in terms of thermal conductivity is aluminum. This thickened shielding acts at the level of electronic components, so that when a high-energy particle collides with it, the energy is reduced and does not affect.

Pablo López Senamor, Airbus Program Manager.

Teamwork

In fact, humanity has a goal to learn more about the bowels of Jupiter. It is often said that the planet and its moons constitute a kind of miniature solar system known as jupiterian system. For this reason, each satellite is getting closer to new data about this system, which can also help us better understand our own solar system.

Each mission learned a little more, so the next one started with what was learned with the internals. That’s the beauty of the space race. This is not a competition, but rather a relay race, the purpose of which is the knowledge of all mankind. Now it’s JUICE’s turn to take over. In a few years, we will have results that will serve as a relief to others.