JUICE’s deployable magnetometer boom (MAGBOOM)

Sener’s work consist of the design, manufacture, verification and integration of the magnetometer boom for the main Spacecraft under JUICE Mission. The purpose of this magnetometer boom is to place five of the ten instruments carried by JUICE for scientific experiments away from the magnetic disturbances of the spacecraft. These five instruments are required to perform two wave characterisation experiments, one for magnetic waves, named J-MAG, and another for radio waves, named RPWI.

The boom is a structure consisting of three segments of composite material (CFRP) and the corresponding titanium hinges, whose deployed length is 10.6 m (with an undeployed length of 3.8 m).

The boom features non-explosive release and hold-down mechanisms that keep it secured to different satellite panels during launch and until deployment, thus guaranteeing the required stiffness.

Moreover, the boom has a deployment mechanism based on torsion springs which includes a viscous damper to control deployment speed. The movement of the boom”s different segments is synchronized with a pulley and cable system so that only one deployment mechanism is required, with the corresponding savings in terms of mass.

In the final deployment phase, once the required angle has been attained, the position of one of the segments is secured by means of a system of latches.

The boom houses five of the instruments that are required for the scientific experiments, and which are located in the third segment in order to maximize the distance from any magnetic element in the satellite. The instrument supports are made of titanium, and even of composite material for those instruments that are more susceptible to the presence of metals.

The instrument wiring is routed through the boom, including the hinge area in each segment, where routing is helical in order to reduce resistive torque during deployment.