Last check of the instruments
Last check of the instruments
Engineers from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research inspected the GALA and JANUS instruments for the last time at the launch site in Kourou (French Guiana) at the beginning of March 2023. They are housed in the ‘bus’ of the spacecraft, which weighs almost six tonnes when fuelled, together with the other optical instruments MAJIS, SWI, UVS and the particle detector PEP. GALA's telescope aperture with its gleaming gold mirror is located exactly between the two DLR personnel, who had earlier removed the very last, few dust particles. The folded solar panels of JUICE can be seen to the right and left at the edge of the image.
Credit:
ESA