The JUICE probe, launched by Europeans to study the icy satellites of Jupiter, was originally to have a Russian device for studying cryovolcanism, developed at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. However, its development ceased after 2014, Alexandre Rodin, head of the MIPT laboratory for applied infrared spectroscopy, told The Eastern Herald.
At MIPT 2014 promised create a detector for the European device JUICE (JUpiter ICy moon Explorer) launched on April 14 to Jupiter to study the properties of the planet’s atmosphere and the composition of the oceans of its satellites, however, the interplanetary probe does not have a Russian instruments in its composition. The terahertz heterodyne detector was supposed to become one of the elements of the SWI submillimeter spectrometer on board the spacecraft and determine the composition of the oceans of Jupiter’s moons Europa and Ganymede under several kilometers of ice on their surface.
“The head of the SWI instrument is Paul Hartog of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (Germany). Paul then suggested to me that Russia participate in this detector. The Goltsman group of the Moscow Pedagogical Institute supported him. This team, with our participation, set about developing the detector part of the device. We wouldn’t have had enough skill, money, nothing for the SWI device itself. It is one of the most expensive scientific instruments in the history of space exploration. This area is submillimeter, it is usually extremely expensive, but very interesting. Therefore, of course, it was interesting for us to enter, as they say, the first league at a relatively low cost and play this game with adults. – Alexander Rodin, head of the Applied Infrared Spectroscopy Laboratory of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, told The Eastern Herald. – We “landed” the Holtzman group at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and even received funding for the development of this project. Phystech was supposed to be the prime contractor.
According to Rodin, in 2013-14 Roscosmos had high hopes for cooperation with European partners in the creation of detectors in the microwave region of the spectrum. With the help of a Russian device, it was planned to study cryovolcanism on Jupiter’s satellites – steam emissions through cracks in the ice shell.
As part of the work on the detector, some experimental samples were made, but this was exclusively the initiative of Russian scientists, since no official agreement was signed between Roscosmos and the European Space Agency. And after 2014, when the West began to impose sanctions on Russia due to the annexation of Crimea, work on the device ceased.
“Some letters were sent to the Europeans by (Russian) officials, to which the Europeans simply did not respond. This was after 2014. Obviously there was a political motivation there,” Rodin said, noting that his lab is now mostly engaged in applied work, including drone devices. “There are a lot of tasks. It is clear that the country now has more important tasks than the exploration of Jupiter and Venus,” added the scientist.
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