Europe’s Major New Interplanetary Spacecraft Has a Slight Problem

upstart writes:

Various options are still available to nudge the important instrument:

It has now been two weeks since the on-target launch of the European Space Agency's 1.5 billion euro probe that is bound for the moons of Jupiter.

This process had been going well until the space agency attempted to extend a 16-meter-long antenna that is part of its radar instrument. The Radar for Icy Moons Exploration, or RIME, is an important scientific instrument on the spacecraft because its ground-penetrating radar will allow for examinations of the interior of intriguing moons such as Europa and Ganymede.

On Friday, the European Space Agency said the long antenna remains stuck to its mounting bracket and is only extended about one-third of its full length. Engineers at the spacecraft's mission control center in Darmstadt, Germany, are working to solve the issue.

"The current leading hypothesis is that a tiny stuck pin has not yet made way for the antenna's release. In this case, it is thought that just a matter of millimeters could make the difference to set the rest of the radar free," the agency said. "Various options are still available to nudge the important instrument out of its current position. The next steps to fully deploy the antenna include an engine burn to shake the spacecraft a little, followed by a series of rotations that will turn Juice, warming up the mount and radar, which are currently in the cold shadows."

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