Jupiter’s Magnetospheric Current System: Implications for Juno and JUICE
Wednesday, 25 May 2016: 11:05 AM
Pontus C. Brandt1, Fran Bagenal2, Stanislav V Barabash3, Emma J Bunce4, George B Clark1, Krishan K Khurana5, Norbert Krupp6, Barry Mauk1, Chris Paranicas1 and Abigail M Rymer1, (1)Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, United States, (2)University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (3)IRF Swedish Institute of Space Physics Kiruna, Kiruna, Sweden, (4)Univ Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom, (5)University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States, (6)Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
Abstract:
In this presentation we will review our current understanding of Jupiter’s large-scale current system, its relation to the Jovian aurora, and Jupiter’s giant magnetodisc, and the dependence on external solar wind drivers versus internal mass loading. Given this context we will contrast specific features of the Jovian magnetosphere to those of Saturn and Earth. The major latter part of the presentation will give an overview of how the Juno and JUICE missions to Jupiter will provide unprecedented insight in to these two fundamental space physics problems. The NASA Juno spacecraft will be inserted in to its orbit around Jupiter in July 2016 where it will conduct low-altitude traversals of Jupiter’s poles and probe the magnetodisc at several radial distances. Equipped with UV and visible cameras, a magnetometer, wave, plasma and energetic particle measurements, Juno will detail the location, distribution and variability of the FACs, as well as the physical mechanisms of energy transfer. The ESA JUICE mission is planned to launch in June 2022 and arrive at the Jovian system in 2030. JUICE is a large spacecraft carrying ten investigations. During its extensive campaign in the Jovian equatorial magnetosphere it will map the three-dimensional structure of the magnetodisc, plasma flow velocities and densities, and the anisotropies of energetic particles to better understand the formation and force-balance of a magnetodisc.
