ESA’s Juice Mission

• 13 Apr 2023

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced the launch date for the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission, which is set to take place on April 13th, 2023 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

• The mission aims to carry out a detailed exploration of Jupiter and its icy moons.
• One of the primary goals of the mission is to create a comprehensive picture of Jupiter by understanding its origin, history, and evolution.
• The mission will focus mainly on Ganymede, which is the largest moon in the Solar System and the only one to generate its own magnetic field.
• The launch vehicle for Juice will be an Ariane 5 launcher, and it will take over six years to reach the Jupiter system.
• The three large ocean-bearing moons of Jupiter, Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa, will be observed using remote sensing, geophysical, and in situ instruments.
• Juice Mission will analyze the chemistry, structure, dynamics, weather, and climate of Jupiter and its ever-changing atmosphere.
• Juice is not equipped to detect life but is capable of finding out whether there could be places around Jupiter inside the icy moons, where the necessary conditions to sustain life are present.
• The mission will characterize these moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats, explore Jupiter's complex environment in depth, and study the wider Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants across the Universe.
• The mission is expected to last for at least three and a half years once it arrives in the Jupiter system.
• Juice is the first large-class mission to the outer Solar System and represents a major milestone for ESA.
• The scientific data gathered by Juice will provide invaluable insights into the mysteries of Jupiter and its icy moons and could potentially shed light on the possibility of extraterrestrial life.