As the largest planet in the solar system with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other solar system planets combined, it’s easy to see why Jupiter has long held a fascination within the scientific community, astronomers and space enthusiasts.
In terms of getting up close and personal, the first planetary flyby manoeuvres were performed by the Pioneer missions in the 1970s, subsequently followed by the Voyager missions. Later in 1995, Galileo became the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter. More recently, NASA’s Juno spacecraft entered into Jupiter orbit in 2016 and currently remains fully operational with its science and exploration programme ongoing.
There has been a lot of scientific activity to study Jupiter and its moons over the years, and now we at BAE Systems Digital Intelligence are proud to be part of this history. Our technology is at the heart of the Earth-based ground stations that enable the most ambitious deep space missions such as the latest explorer spacecraft launched towards Jupiter.
Up and away
Earlier this month, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer – known as Juice – started its much anticipated eight-year journey from the spaceport in the French Guiana to Jupiter. After travelling 4.1 billion miles (6.6 billion km), Juice will arrive at the Jovian system to carry out detailed observations of the giant gas planet and its three large ocean-bearing moons: Callisto, Europa and Ganymede.
Juice’s main mission is to determine whether the conditions for life could exist in the vast oceans of water held beneath the moons’ surfaces. Any findings that indicate the planet’s ability to host simple microbial organisms would be of enormous significance.
Supporting this mission is our Tracking, Telemetry and Command Processor (TTCP), a next-generation technology solution for processing the communication signals sent between the spacecraft and ground stations to allow ESA to track, control and communicate with Juice from right here on Earth.
In a nutshell, the TTCP provides vital uplink and downlink communication services. The uplink (Earth to spacecraft link) transmits commands to control the spacecraft, while the downlink (spacecraft to Earth link) receives Juice’s data including critical spacecraft health information along with images, video and other scientific and engineering information recorded by Juice’s suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments. The communication system can support information transmission with data rates up to 75 Mbps through wireless signals emitted 1.5 million km away, thereby ensuring the integrity of the treasure trove of data that Juice will collect during its journey.
BAE Systems technology to support European Space Agency mission to Jupiter’s icy moons - Click to download the full infographic
The TTCP also offers high precision tracking. Based on triangulation of the tracking signals received at the ground stations, it can work out the position of the spacecraft with an accuracy of 0.2 millionths of a degree, and measure the distance of a spacecraft from home to within 10cm anywhere in the solar system. This all makes the TTCP ideally suited to support current and future near-to-earth and deep space missions.
Our TTCP will play a vital role in enabling ESA operation centres to communicate with Juice – as well as other missions – and track its whereabouts in deep space. Moreover, the TTCP receives crucial data that could enable the next scientific breakthrough by taking us one step closer to answering one of mankind’s most alluring questions: does life exist beyond our home planet?
Powering space innovation
Our work as a supplier for ESA’s Juice mission marks the next step of BAE Systems Digital Intelligence’s journey to the stars. From protecting citizens to securing communications and defending nations, we have spent many years driving innovation in space for advantage on Earth.
For example, we are bringing innovation to space communications through the TTCP on a daily basis. Recently the SolarOrbiter, another ESA deep-space mission, reached its maximum radial velocity with respect to the Earth. In these challenging and extreme conditions, our latest technological solutions deployed in the TTCP in Malargue station in Argentina allowed ESA to track and range the spacecraft while simultaneously maintaining a reliable communication link.
And our exceptional ground-based space communications signal processing capabilities are just one piece of that puzzle. We are also experts at developing secure and resilient solutions. Given the importance of space assets to both defence and commercial use, we are currently working with our customers to make sure their satellites are cyber-secure.
Our next goal is to build our own in-space capabilities, which is exactly what we’re doing with our Azalea low-Earth orbit satellite. Azalea will enable us to deliver high-quality information and intelligence from space to military customers, boosting the UK’s ability to understand threats and hazards.
There will be plenty more to come from us over the coming months. But for now, let’s wish Godspeed to Juice during its epic journey that could once again transform our understanding of our place in the universe.