3308: Juice

Juice

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Title text: I need to push some updates to the remote sensing instruments, which are there to measure the surface and definitely not do anything else.

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Explanation

This is one of 51 incomplete explanations: This page was generated by A JUICE MAKING BOT THAT ONLY DOES THAT AND NOTHING ELSE. Don't remove this notice too soon. You can help by editing the explanation!

In this comic, Cueball has apparently misread the full name of the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) space probe, and thought that the last word was "Exploder". He must have been part of the design team and built something into the probe to carry out what he thought was the mission to destroy the moons. Having had his mistake belatedly brought to his attention, he now needs to update the programming to stop it doing this. As of 2026, even the most powerful nuclear devices are not powerful enough to have any meaningful impact on a moon. Why Cueball thought a mission would be funded to explode a moon is unclear, given that it's unlikely that a probe would be sent out just to blow up moons.^{[citation needed]}

"All systems nominal" is standard terminology used by spacecraft mission control centers to mean that all systems are performing as expected.

In the title text, Cueball is trying to be circumspect about the reason he needs to send a programming update, as he doesn't want to let the rest of Mission Control know about his very odd misunderstanding. It also seems to reveal that the 'exploding' would somehow be accomplished by (mis)using the scientific instruments, perhaps by increasing the energy output of a radar-like instrument to the point that it becomes a directed energy weapon (as seen in the what if? article Enforced by Radar), rather than using the more obvious fuel or power components of the craft. Alternatively, he may have been using the "remote sensing instruments" for some sort of targeting or range-finding to direct the explosives.

3304: Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, published the previous week, also referenced JUICE.

Transcript

This is one of 36 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. You can help by editing the transcript!

[Ponytail and Cueball are each sitting at large computer consoles, with their hands on the keyboards. Ponytail is on the left, below a sign on the wall that says "JUICE Mission Control". Cueball is on the right.]

Cueball: Jupiter Icy Moons Exploder checkin is complete. All systems nominal.

[Zoom in on just Ponytail and Cueball. You can only see part of their consoles and not the wall on the left. They've turned their heads to face each other.]

Ponytail: Explorer.

Cueball: What?

Ponytail: Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer.

[Zoom in on Cueball and his console. He looks pensive, with his hands in his lap.]

[Zoom out to both characters and their consoles. Ponytail has her hand up to her forehead. Cueball is typing on his console.]

Cueball: Control, everything is fine, but I need to schedule an urgent spacecraft update.

Ponytail: Oh no.

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Discussion

Hey you guys, new cool one I'm terrible at editing so I cant do this so bye 107.1.219.44 16:51, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

Second! 144.125.54.157 16:51, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

DIE *STABS IN CHEST* 107.1.219.44 17:25, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

This is the second comic about JUICE in less than 2 weeks. Is that enough to create a category for it? Barmar (talk) 16:54, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

Probably. I certainly would- Randall might be making more, we probably want to be prepared. 66.154.219.128 17:14, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

Gosh darn it, someone beat me to the punch! 66.154.219.128 17:08, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

Europeans vs Europa: This week on WWE Black Hat's Hat (talk) 18:08, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

Is "checkin" in the fist pannel a typo?--Death cab for me (talk) 18:58, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

Never mind I thought he was saying checking but he meant check-in. Death cab for me (talk) 19:00, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

Is "nominal"? 108.4.242.69 19:33, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

wikt:nominal, adjective, def. 10. It's a fancy term for "normal". 7amiþ = moi.__init__(t, c) 20:00, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

Sure; and it was fancy enough to fool the original transcript, which has since reverted from "normal" to match Randall's "nominal." 108.4.242.69 21:21, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

But how can we be sure Cueball is trying to disable the explosion with the update? Maybe he thought someone else would install the explosion capabilities and now realizes he must do it himself 🤔 2601:241:8002:3E0:F16A:7242:B4A0:6804 23:06, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

Could this be a reference to Internet Exploder (as a nickname for Internet Explorer)? 75.6.197.115 23:24, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

I feel like this is definitely a reference to Scott Manely, many people, myself included, heard him say "Duna Exploder" in his "Inter Stellar Quest" series. 216.16.8.216 (talk) 00:14, 8 October 2026 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I think there might be a tie-in to the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia 2001:56a:fcda:3900:5eec:48e2:38fe:a493 (talk) 02:12, 8 October 2026 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Jupiter icy moon explorer is almost a trochee! Almost, so close in fact, it will soon drive me insane--Death cab for me (talk) 03:30, 12 October 2026 (UTC)
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