Moons and Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer (MAJIS) on Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE)
The MAJIS (Moons And Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer) instrument on board the ESA JUICE (JUpiter ICy moon Explorer) mission is an imaging spectrometer operating in the visible and near-infrared spectral range from 0.50 to 5.55 μm in two spectral channels with a boundary at 2.3 μm and spectral samplings for the VISNIR and IR channels better than 4 nm/band and 7 nm/band, respectively. The IFOV is 150 μrad over a total of 400 pixels. As already amply demonstrated by the past and present operative planetary space missions, an imaging spectrometer of this type can span a wide range of scientific objectives, from the surface through the atmosphere and exosphere. MAJIS is then perfectly suitable for a comprehensive study of the icy satellites, with particular emphasis on Ganymede, the Jupiter atmosphere, including its aurorae and the spectral characterization of the whole Jupiter system, including the ring system, small inner moons, and targets of opportunity whenever feasible. The accurate measurement of radiance from the different targets, in some case particularly faint due to strong absorption features, requires a very sensitive cryogenic instrument operating in a severe radiation environment. In this respect MAJIS is the state-of-the-art imaging spectrometer devoted to these objectives in the outer Solar System and its passive cooling system without cryocoolers makes it potentially robust for a long-life mission as JUICE is. In this paper we report the scientific objectives, discuss the design of the instrument including its complex on-board pipeline, highlight the achieved performance, and address the observation plan with the relevant instrument modes.
Funding
French contribution to MAJIS has been technically supported and funded by CNES – CONTRACT CNES – CNRS n° 180 117. Italian contribution to MAJIS has been coordinated and funded by Italian Space Agency – CONTRACT N. 2021-18-I.0 and supported by the ASI-INAF agreement n. 2023-6-HH.0. Belgian contribution to MAJIS has been funded by the Belgian Science Policy (Belspo) agency in the frame of ESA – PRODEX-11 (Grant No. PEA 4000124255)
History
Author affiliation
College of Science & Engineering/Physics & AstronomyVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Published in
Space Science ReviewsVolume
220Issue
3Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLCissn
0038-6308eissn
1572-9672Copyright date
2024Available date
2024-04-10Publisher DOI
Language
enPublisher version
Deposited by
Professor Leigh FletcherDeposit date
2024-04-08Rights Retention Statement
- No