The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) probe of the European Space Agency (ESA) sent back the first “selfies” it took as it made its way to Jupiter and its moons. The photos were released by ESA on Saturday, and show part of the spacecraft’s structure accompanied by Earth in the background.
The photos were taken in the hours after JUICE’s release last week. They were captured by monitoring cameras JMC1 and JMC2, installed to record the different stages of deployment of the spacecraft’s instruments and devices along the journey to the planet and its natural satellites.
Below, you can see a tweet from ESA with all the photos:
To record the procedures, the JMC1 was installed at the front of the ship, with a field of view that allows you to see part of one of its solar panels. When the spacecraft deploys its antennas, JMC1 will be able to see them too. JMC2 is on top of the spacecraft, positioned to monitor the deployment of the Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (RIME) antenna.
For now, the instrument is stored, but its opening will begin in the coming days and will be recorded by the probe’s cameras. When it’s up and running, it will act as an ice-penetrating radar that can study what lies beneath the surface of Jupiter’s moons.
According to the ESA, RIME is stored in a stable configuration. It should start its opening over the next few days, and the procedure will be recorded by the cameras that equip the probe.
Source: ESA
