1,1,2,3,- 1Starion for the European Space Agency, European Space and Astronomy Center, Camino Bajo del Castillo s/n, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692, Spain
- 2European Space Agency, European Space and Astronomy Center, Camino Bajo del Castillo s/n, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692, Spain
- 3Aurora for the European Space Agency, European Space and Astronomy Center, Camino Bajo del Castillo s/n, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692, Spain
JUICE is the first Large-class mission selected under ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme. It was launched on 14 April 2023 and is now en route to the Jovian system. Its primary goal is to characterise the conditions that may have given rise to habitable environments on Jupiter’s icy moons, with particular emphasis on Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede. In parallel, JUICE will conduct a multidisciplinary investigation of the Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants.
To meet these science objectives, the spacecraft carries ten state-of-the-art instruments designed for both remote-sensing and in-situ measurements of Jupiter, its moons, and their shared environment. During the cruise phase, prior to Jupiter arrival in July 2031, each instrument must complete all commissioning and calibration activities to ensure maximum science return from the beginning of the nominal mission.
Opportunities for calibration are limited to week-long payload checkouts performed twice per year and to periods surrounding gravity-assist manoeuvres. These special windows are the first-ever combined Lunar-Earth Gravity Assist in August 2024, followed by Earth fly-bys in 2026 and 2029. An additional about 3-month interval during the cruise phase to Jupiter may also be available for in-situ calibrations in the solar wind.
This contribution outlines the strategy, schedule, and timeline for these critical cruise-phase science operations.
How to cite: Costa, M., Vallat, C., Esquej, P., Andres, R., Valles, R., Belgacem, I., Capuccio, P., Kotsiaros, S., Vervelidou, F., Altobelli, N., and Escalante, A.: JUICE Science Operations during the Cruise Phase, EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland, 7–12 Sep 2025, EPSC-DPS2025-1981, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc-dps2025-1981, 2025.
