Contribution Of PRIDE VLBI Products To The Joint JUICE-Europa Clipper Moons’ Ephemerides Solution

Within the coming decade, JUICE and Europa Clipper radio-science will yield probably the most correct estimation so far of the Galilean moons’ bodily parameters and ephemerides. JUICE’s PRIDE (Planetary Radio Interferometry and Doppler Experiment) will assist obtain such an answer by offering VLBI (Very Lengthy Baseline Interferometry) observations of the spacecraft’s lateral place, complementing nominal radio-science measurements.

We quantify how PRIDE VLBI can contribute to the moons’ ephemerides willpower, by way of attainable resolution enchancment and validation alternatives. To this finish, we simulated each single- and dual-spacecraft VLBI, exploiting the potential simultaneous monitoring of JUICE and Europa Clipper.

We thought-about varied monitoring and information high quality situations, and in contrast the formal uncertainties obtained with and with out VLBI. This was carried out for each international and native (i.e., per-flyby) estimations of the moons’ states, as attaining a worldwide resolution first requires continuing arc-per-arc. We confirmed that each single- and dual-spacecraft VLBI solely convey restricted enchancment to the worldwide state estimation, however considerably contribute to the moons’ regular factors (i.e., native states at flyby occasions), most notably within the out-of-plane path.

Moreover, we designed a validation plan exploiting PRIDE VLBI to progressively validate the classical radio-science resolution. By bettering the native state estimations and providing varied validation alternatives, PRIDE shall be invaluable in overcoming doable dynamical modelling challenges. It could possibly due to this fact play a key position in reconstructing a worldwide resolution for the Galilean moons’ dynamics with the uncertainty ranges promised by JUICE-Europa Clipper analyses. This, in flip, is essential to the correct characterisation of tidal dissipation within the Jovian system, holding the important thing to the long-term evolution of the Galilean moons.

Marie S. Fayolle, Dominic Dirkx, Giuseppe Cimo, Leonid I. Gurvits, Valery Lainey, Pieter N.A.M. Visser

Topics: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Instrumentation and Strategies for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
Cite as: arXiv:2405.00562 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2405.00562v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this model)
Associated DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2024.116101
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Submission historical past
From: Marie Fayolle
[v1] Wed, 1 Might 2024 15:12:19 UTC (1,471 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.00562
Astrobiology,