Aerospace Testing InternationalAerospace Testing International
  • News
    • A-E
      • Acoustic & Vibration
      • Avionics
      • Data Acquisition
      • Defense
      • Drones & Air Taxis
      • Electric & Hybrid
      • EMC
      • Engine Testing
      • Environmental Testing
    • F-L
      • Fatigue Testing
      • Flight Testing
      • Helicopters & Rotorcraft
      • High Speed Imaging
      • Industry News
    • M-S
      • Materials Testing
      • NDT
      • Simulation & Training
      • Software
      • Space
      • Structural Testing
      • Supplier News
    • T-Z
      • Technology
      • Telemetry & Communications
      • Weapons Testing
      • Wind Tunnels
  • Features
  • Magazines
    • March 2025
    • Dec 2024/Jan 2025
    • Showcase 2025
    • September 2024
    • June 2024
    • Archive Issues
    • Subscribe Free!
  • Opinion
  • Webinars
  • Events
    • All Events
    • Aerospace Test & Development Show
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Suppliers
    • Supplier Spotlights
    • Press Releases
    • Technical Papers
  • Jobs
    • Browse Jobs
    • Post a Job – It’s FREE!
    • Manage Jobs (Employers)
LinkedIn YouTube X (Twitter)
LinkedIn YouTube X (Twitter)
Subscribe to magazine Subscribe to email newsletter Media Pack
Aerospace Testing InternationalAerospace Testing International
  • News
      • Acoustic & Vibration
      • Avionics
      • Data Acquisition
      • Defense
      • Drones & Air Taxis
      • Electric & Hybrid
      • EMC
      • Engine Testing
      • Environmental Testing
      • Fatigue Testing
      • Flight Testing
      • Helicopters & Rotorcraft
      • High Speed Imaging
      • Industry News
      • Materials Testing
      • NDT
      • Simulation & Training
      • Software
      • Space
      • Structural Testing
      • Supplier News
      • Technology
      • Telemetry & Communications
      • Weapons Testing
      • Wind Tunnels
  • Features
  • Magazines
    1. March 2025
    2. Dec 2024/Jan 2025
    3. Showcase 2025
    4. September 2024
    5. June 2024
    6. March 2024
    7. Archive Issues
    8. Subscribe Free!
    Featured
    19th March 2025

    In this issue: March 2025

    Online Magazines By Ben Sampson
    Recent

    In this issue: March 2025

    19th March 2025
    contents and front cover of magazine

    In this issue: December / January 2025

    19th December 2024
    Showcase 2025

    In this issue – Showcase 2025

    6th November 2024
  • Opinion
  • Webinars
  • Events
    • All Events
    • Aerospace Test & Development Show
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Suppliers
    • Supplier Spotlights
    • Press Releases
    • Technical Papers
  • Jobs
    • Browse Jobs
    • Post a Job – It’s FREE!
    • Manage Jobs (Employers)
LinkedIn YouTube X (Twitter)
Aerospace Testing InternationalAerospace Testing International
Space

Helicopter test for Jupiter Icy Moons RIME antenna

Anthony JamesBy Anthony James27th September 20173 Mins Read
Share LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Email

A long radar boom that will probe below the surface of Jupiter’s icy moons has been tested recently on Earth with the help of a helicopter, it was announced on September 26, 2017.

ESA’s JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is scheduled for launch in 2022, and to arrive seven years later. It will study Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere and vast magnetic fields, as well as the planet-sized moons Ganymede, Europa and Callisto. All three moons are thought to have oceans of liquid water beneath their icy crusts and should provide key clues on the potential for such bodies to harbor habitable environments.

One way to determine the nature of the moons’ subsurface is to penetrate through the ice with radar. The Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (RIME) instrument will be the first of its kind capable of performing direct subsurface measurements of worlds in the outer Solar System.

A 16m-long boom will be deployed after launch and, once at Jupiter’s moons, it will transmit radio waves toward the surface and analyze the timing and strength of their reflections from features buried down to about 9km. It will see vertical details as small as 50m.

It will also help characterize the wide range of compositional, thermal and structural variations expected in the subsurfaces of these unique and geologically complex worlds.

In order to measure key characteristics of the antenna, and to verify computer simulations, a test was carried out using a helicopter operating out of a glider airport in Heiligenberg, close to Friedrichshafen, in Germany last week. The antenna was mounted on a simplified mock-up of the spacecraft and hung 150m below the helicopter, which hovered between 50m and 320m above the ground.

The tests were performed with the antenna and solar array in horizontal and vertical orientations with respect to the spacecraft mock-up, to understand the interaction between the spacecraft components and the antenna, and to test the characteristics of the returned signals. The helicopter offered the flexibility to fly close to the ground in agile maneuvers, including figure-of-eight trajectories.

“All the experiments were completed and provided a large amount of data that will be analyzed in the coming weeks for guiding the next steps of the instrument’s development and to improve the modeling of our software simulations developed in the laboratory,” said principal investigator Lorenzo Bruzzone from the University of Trento, Italy.

“The test was a fundamental step toward understanding the behavior of the real antenna that will ultimately allow us to perform highly accurate measurements of the radar echoes reflected from the deep subsurface of the Jovian icy moons.” 

Click here to see a video of the RIMA instrument testing. 

September 27, 2018

Share. Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email
Previous ArticleStratolaunch reaches engine testing milestone
Next Article Volocopter performs first ever urban air taxi test
Anthony James

Related Posts

News

Astrolight raises €2.8m to build optical space communications network

22nd May 20253 Mins Read
Materials Testing

Glasgow NextSpace facility to test 3D printed space materials

14th May 20253 Mins Read
Materials Testing

Self-healing polymer developed for spacecraft protection

6th May 20254 Mins Read
Latest Posts

Drive System Design opens second UK high-speed eMachine test facility

23rd May 2025

dSPACE expands Scalexio platform for HIL testing

23rd May 2025

AIR cargo eVTOL completes night flight testing

22nd May 2025
Supplier Spotlights
Our Social Channels
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
Getting in Touch
  • Subscribe To Magazine
  • Contact Us
  • Meet the Team
  • Media Pack
Related Topics
  • Aircraft Interiors
  • Business Jet Interiors
FREE WEEKLY NEWS EMAIL!

Get the 'best of the week' from this website direct to your inbox every Wednesday

© 2023 Mark Allen Group Ltd | All Rights Reserved
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.