The Israel Space Agency joined the European Space Agency’s flagship project - JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) at the beginning of 2014. Recently, on November 20th, the project proceeded to the next level, after the European Space Agency’s Science Program Committee authorized the legal framework in which the various space agencies engaged in the project are to be funded. The JUICE Explorer is scheduled to be launched in 2022 and to reach Jupiter and its moons by 2030. The 3-year scientific mission will observe and study the largest of the solar system’s planets and its three moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. The explorer is scheduled to study Jupiter’s special atmosphere, to measure the magnetosphere (the cavity created by the planet’s magnetic field) and to research the gravitation field of Jupiter and its 3 Galileo moons. Moreover, the explorer will study the structure of the icy layers on Ganymede (the largest of the moons in the entire solar system) and Europa, and the characteristics of the ocean layers beneath their icy surfaces. The explorer will weigh almost 2 tons and carry nuclear reactor for its powering, in addition to about 100-kilograms of scientific payload to be provided by the various space agencies, who are respectively responsible for conducting each of the eleven researches, which are planned to take place within the JUICE Scientific Mission. This scientific payload includes cameras, spectrometers (an apparatus that produces a spectrum for measuring wavelength), radar, altimeter, and various types of detectors. The Israeli contribution to the scientific payload is an Ultra Stable Quartz Oscillator (USO) that exhibits outstanding short term stability of parts per 1013 for averaging times of 1s to 1000s, which together with a one-way space to ground radio link in X and Ka band, to be provided by ASI, will provide for investigating the structure of the neutral atmospheres and ionospheres of Jupiter and its moons as part of the radio science experiment (3GM research), which will be carried out by ASI. Accubeat Ltd. An Israeli company who is specialized in the field of atomic clocks is developing the USO. A team of Israeli researchers headed by Dr. Kaspi from the Weizmann Scientific Institute joined the Italian Scientific Team headed by prof. Luciano Ies. The Israeli researchers will assist in planning the orbits along which the explorer will surround the planet and its three moons such that the occultation experiments will be televised. Moreover they will take part in planning these measurements, and will be exposed to the results of these measurements before they will become public.

The Rosetta spacecraft was launched in 2004, and entered into orbit around the comet - Churyumov-Gerasimenko on August 6, 2014. This is one of the most ambitious projects conducted by the European Space Agency and in the history of space research in general. On November 12, the project reached another achievement when the Philae lander detached from the Rosetta and landed on the surface of the comet. One of the members of the teams of scientists that anxiously awaited the data from the Rosetta, is the team headed by Prof. Akiva Bar-Nun of the Geophysics and Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences Department at Tel Aviv University. Bar-Nun was also a member of the group that originated the idea of flying the Rosetta to the comet, 25 years ago, in order to examine the strength and composition of the ice surface. For the past 30 years, Prof. Bar-Nun’s team has been engaged in the study of comets; and in recent years, since 2011, this research has received funding from the Israel Space Agency. Members of the team are world leaders in the study of the gases and grains of ice and dust that are released from the comets as they approach the sun, which create the halo and tail of the comets. The comet ice experimental simulation lab run by the researchers has conducted many studies, the results of which serve as a basis for the measurement on Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In the coming year, 2015, the laboratory staff is scheduled to analyze the measurement results that will be received from Rosetta.

مركبة الفضاء روزيتا التي تم اطلاقها نحو الفضاء عام 2004 ودخلت في مدار حول المذنب تشريموف-غرسيمنكو في 6 آب 2014، هي أحد المشاريع الأكثر طموحاً لوكالة الفضاء الاوروبية، وفي تاريخ بحث الفضاء بشكل عام. في 12 تشرين الثاني تم تسجيل انجاز آخر في اطار المشروع، عندما انفصل المسبار بيلاي عن مركبة روزيتا واستقر على سطح المذنب. من فرق العلماء الذين ينتظرون وصول المعطيات من المركبة روزيتا، هو الفريق الذي يقوده البروفيسور عكيفا بار نون من قسم الجيوفيزياء وعلوم الغلاف الجوي والكواكب في جامعة تل ابيب، والذي كان أيضاً عضواً في مجموعة قادت قبل 25 عام فكرة الطيران باستخدام روزيتا نحو أحد المذنبات من أجل فحص قوة الجليد الذي يكونه وتركيبته. طاقم البروفيسور بار نون يعمل منذ 30 عاماً على دراسة المذنبات، وفي السنوات الأخيرة، منذ 2011، يحصل بحثهم على دعم من وكالة الفضاء الاسرائيلية. أعضاء الفريق هم من الرواد في العالم في دراسة الغازات وجزيئات الجليد والغبار الذي يتحرر من المذنبات عند اقترابها من الشمس، والتي تشكل الهالة والذيل للمذنبات. في مختبر محاكاة تجريبية لجليد المذنبات يشرف عليه الباحثون، أجريت أبحاث عديدة تعتمد على نتائجها اليوم المعطيات المتوفرة عن مقاييس المذنب تشريوموف-غرسيمنكو. خلال هذا العام 2015، سيعمل الفريق على تحليل المعطيات التي ستصل من مركبة روزيتا.