The Jupiter Icy moon Explorer (JUICE) is the first large-class mission in ESA‘s Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme. Launched in 2023 and planned to arrive at Jupiter in 2031, it will spend at least four years making detailed observations of Jupiter and three of its largest moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.
Scientific space missions encompass many technical challenges, one of which being the radiation environment. The space environment around Jupiter that the JUICE mission will encounter is one of the harshest in the solar system. Very high energy particles are trapped in the magnetosphere and can degrade the mission performances. This aspect needs to be carefully considered during each phase of the project and have multiple impacts on the mission design: spacecraft and instrument shielding, adjusted trajectory to limit the radiation dose over the course of the mission, adapted payload operations to protect the instruments when needed. An updated radiation model will be available in 2025.
The goal of this project is to use the latest model of the Jupiter radiation environment to support the selection of the JUICE trajectory and to prepare the future science operations planning. More information, as well as the link to apply for the position, can be found here.
The closing date for applications is 28th February 2025 at 23:59 CET/CEST.
The post will be based at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk, Netherlands.