Launched in April 2023, the unmanned space probe JUICE is expected to provide information about Jupiter and its moons. Polish companies, universities and institutions are participating in the project.

The research instruments are to uncover the secrets of Jupiter’s moons Ganymede, Europa and Kallisto. The aim of the mission is to determine whether life could have originated in the hidden oceans on these celestial bodies and whether Ganymede could serve as a base for future missions to explore deep space.

The Polish company Astronika and the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences, together with the Swedish Institute of Plasma Physics in Uppsala, were responsible for providing the RPWI (Radio Plasma Wave Investigation) instrument. Polish scientists and engineers prepared two devices: RWI (Radio Wave Instrument) antennas and LP-PWI (Langmuir Probe – Plasma Wave Instrument) booms.

Scientists from the Warsaw University of Technology carried out material tests of the protective coatings on the RPWI instrument antennas, which were used to select and qualify these coatings for operation under JUICE mission conditions.