Implementing the PRIDE technique for the JUICE mission at the University of Tasmania

Abstract

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission to study the Jovian system, currently undergoing an eight-year cruise phase. The Planetary Radio Interferometric and Doppler Experiment (PRIDE) is one of eleven experiments contributing to the JUICE mission. PRIDE aims to conduct radio science experiments using ground-based radio telescopes, through both single dish and Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations. The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is an important contributor to PRIDE and JUICE, though its continental-wide network of radio telescopes in Australia. Over 35 PRIDE observations of JUICE were conducted during the period 2023-24, which enabled detailed analysis of space weather activity in this period, as well as the Lunar-Earth flyby campaign in August 2024. In this paper, we describe PRIDE VLBI observations of JUICE, and the first successful results of PRIDE with the University of Tasmania infrastructure.