Juice mission launches to explore Jupiter’s icy ocean worlds

[Gefn]

The European Space Agency has sent a spacecraft to explore Jupiter and three of its largest and most intriguing moons.

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission, or Juice, launched Friday at 8:14 a.m. ET aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

The spacecraft will separate from the Ariane 5 rocket 28 minutes after launch. Over the course of the next 17 days, Juice will deploy its solar arrays, antennas and other instruments, followed by three months of testing and preparing the instruments.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/14/world/esa-juice-mission-launch-scn/index.html

[Gefn]

From article

Once Juice arrives at Jupiter in July 2031, the spacecraft will spend about three and a half years orbiting the gas giant and conducting flybys of three of its moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Toward the end of the mission, Juice will focus solely on orbiting Ganymede, making it the first spacecraft to ever orbit a moon in the outer solar system.

I hope I’m still alive in July 2031. 8 years is a long time away.

[Kamaji]

From article


I hope I’m still alive in July 2031. 8 years is a long time away.