Optical components from Materion Balzers Optics on its way to Jupiter

With the launch of ESA’s JUICE (JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer) mission on April 14^th 2023, coated optical components of Materion Balzers Optics have started their eight year journey to Jupiter. The mission was launched on board of an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou (French-Guayana). Starting in 2031, the spacecraft shall study the three Jovian moons Ganymed, Callisto, and Europa. The investigations are focused on water reservoirs, surface topography, properties of the ice crust, atmosphere, and magnetic fields. Eleven scientific instruments are on bord to carry out the investigations. Materion Balzers Optics subsidiary in Jena has provided essential components for two of these instruments and the external monitoring camera.

The aim of JANUS instrument is the multispectral imaging of the surface of Jovian moons in visible and near-infrared spectral range. All 13 bandpass filters of the instruments are manufactured in Jena by means of magnetron-sputtering-technology.

The JUICE-Magnetometer (J-MAG) will study the Jovian magnetic field and its interaction with the subsurface oceans of Jovian moons. Anti-reflective coatings were applied on various optical components of the magnetometer’s interferometer at the Jena facility.

An external monitoring camera is part of the spacecraft to control the condition of the satellite and the acquisition of wide-angle images of the Jovian system during its journey. To allow color images, Materion Balzers Optics has applied four different color filters directly onto the 18 µm x 18 µm pixels of the electronic sensor by means of photolithography. Especially the high load of cosmic radiation is a critical parameter for the external monitoring camera. To ensure the functionality under harsh space conditions, all optical components need to pass various environmental tests before integration into the spacecraft.