Solar System Exploration: Still Happening, Is Going To Happen More

[nanila]

The last of the press releases I was waiting for to make Announcements About Space came out yesterday so I can now write my Post of Great Happiness.

1. The European Space Agency's Cluster mission, studying the Earth's plasma environment and interaction with the heliosphere, has been extended from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2016. This is the mission's seventh extension - the original mission began at the start of 2001 and was scheduled to last for two years. It is both astonishing and wonderful that all four spacecraft have lasted this long and continue to return such a rich seam of results. The quartet of spacecraft, flying in a tetrahedral formation, have gradually been approaching closer and closer to Earth, exploring different regions of the magnetosphere. It will be years, probably decades, before the potential of the data can be said to have been mined exhaustively.
   
   The instrument I work on (the magnetometer) is fully operational on all four spacecraft. A couple of years ago, I calculated that I'd personally inspected tens of millions of magnetic field vectors. I suspect that number may have since entered the hundreds of millions.
   
   
2. Support for the European instruments aboard the joint NASA-ESA Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn has been approved by ESA's Science Programme Committee. Cassini is scheduled to take its final plunge into Saturn's atmosphere in late 2017. The magnetometer (our instrument) is still going strong.
   
   
3. Other missions that I don't work on personally, but know people who do, also had two-year extensions approved: INTEGRAL, Mars Express, PROBA-2, SOHO, XMM-Newton, Hinode and HST. So many different types of exciting science!
   
   Also, holy long-lasting spacecraft, Batman. Cluster is far from the most venerable. SOHO was launched in 1995 and went into operation, observing the Sun, in 1996. The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990. 1990. I hadn't the faintest inkling that I would end up becoming a scientist in 1990. /o\
   
   
4. Finally, the really big one. The JUICE mission to the Jupiter system, which will be the first spacecraft to orbit one of the Galilean moons (Ganymede), has been formally adopted by the agency. This means we are now allowed to leave the design phase, wherein our spacecraft and instruments exist only on paper (lots and LOTS of paper), and enter the implementation phase, wherein we begin to Build Things. I am both proud and excited to be a part of one of the instrument teams.
   
   

And now, I must go and rescue my pumpkin and pecan pies from beneath the noses of bloke and cat, for we are celebrating American Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Comments

[quoththeravyn]

Woohoo! On all counts, but especially the ones you're directly involved in. It's nice to know you have a job going forward.

And I'm thrilled about the JUICE thing (and not just because my first nano involved a one-way trip to Europa).

We recently had a "15 years of science" symposium, featuring serious talk about what to do with the next 15 years. There's no known hardware reason the satellite won't last that long. It's nice to know that our opposite number, XMM-Newton, is still going strong as well.

[nanila]

*bounce* Thank you! I'm excited to carry on with my current work, and to have many more interesting and varied tasks to look forward to.

Fifteen years of successful operation is phenomenal enough; thirty will be incredible. I do hope it carries on.

[weaverbird]

So much coolness. And so exciting! (Still semi-stupefied, after the culinary excesses of Thursday, so a more articulate comment will have to wait.) But yeah, you work on the coolest stuff.

[nanila]

OH YES I AM EXCITE. So happy to have had this news before I go on maternity leave as well; it feels like very fortuitous timing.

[ironed_orchid]

I'm so thrilled about the JUICE mission going forward.

[nanila]

ME TOO. It's been a significant effort to get this far, and it's such a relief to have that effort be rewarded.

[djm4]

That is fantastic news. Congratulations!

[nanila]

Thank you! It's been a lot of work (and will continue to be) but it is so enjoyable that I expect the next couple of years will fly past.

[boundbooks]

Congratulations! Those pictures are so cool. :D Also, happy belated American Thanksgiving!

[nanila]

Thank you! The pictures are: Sun-Earth magnetospheric interaction (not to scale), Enceladus' plumes (backlit) and JUICE orbiting Ganymede (also not to scale).

[sfred]

Eeee!

Happy timeshifted Thanksgiving.

[nanila]

\o/ It's great to be able to go on leave to the tune of all this great news.

Thank you! (Things are in the oven; good smells are wafting upstairs while I put my feet up for a bit.)

[gorgeousnerd]

Congratulations! There is a ton to be happy/excited about here. (The JUICE mission sounds so great.)

And a happy belated Thanksgiving!

[nanila]

Thank you! The JUICE mission is going to be spectacular. Close flybys of Europa and Callisto, and then orbit around Ganymede? IT WILL BE AMAZING.

And happy belated Thanksgiving to you too.

[sunflowerinrain]

Wonderful and exciting and uplifting!

[nanila]

Agreed! It was an additional bonus to have all this good news come in before I go on maternity leave.

[rmc28]

Yay hurrah and all that good stuff.

[nanila]

:) Thank you!

[lurkingcat]

Whee! Space sciencing! I'm so very, very impressed at the longevity of some of these missions too.

[nanila]

SOHO always delights me, because we so frequently still see images from its LASCO instrument in the mainstream news when something passes close to the Sun.

[kaberett]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH :D

(could not decide whether to use grinny icon or space-science-related icon went for latter)

[nanila]

YESSSSS.

The Moon is always a pleasure to see. :D Hello, Moon!

[silveradept]

Congratulations on JUICE and holy longevity, Batperson! Those spacecraft are clearly marvels of engineering and we are impressed that craft are regularly built that exceed their original mission times by such healthy margins.

[nanila]

Longevity is one of the rather pleasant consequences of selecting technologies for durability and for prioritising redundancy in spacecraft design.

[lark_ascends]

WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!

[nanila]

It's all good stuff. I'm really pleased that we have continuity for these missions!

[castiron]

Congratulations! Yay!

[nanila]

Thank you! *happy dance*

[emelbe]

Fantastic! I'm so glad to hear it.

[nanila]

Yes! Thank you! It was really good to get this news before I go on leave. :)