The Solar System’s largest planet Jupiter and its moons have been observed by NASA’s Juno spacecraft since 2016. Launched in 2011 and entering Jupiter orbit in 2016, Juno has managed to send impressive images of the giant planet and its moons.
But soon, Juno will have another man-made satellite companion around Jupiter. The European Space Agency will launch its long-planned ‘JUICE’ space mission on Thursday, April 13, at 15.15.
You can follow the JUICE mission live at this link:
What is the JUICE mission?
The JUICE spacecraft, which stands for “Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer”, was developed by the aerospace giant Airbus. The JUICE mission will be jointly run by 13 European countries, as well as the USA, Japan and Israel.
The JUICE mission was actually a mission that had been planned for 11 years. Although the course of the mission was adversely affected by the COVID19 pandemic, the start date has now arrived. The spacecraft will be transported into space with the Ariane 5 rocket and will embark on a long 8-year journey to Jupiter.
The JUICE mission will be part of the European Space Agency’s “Cosmic Vision” programme. The objectives of the mission program, for which one billion euros were allocated, were shared as follows:
- Learning how planets formed
- Learning how the Solar System works
- Exploring the fundamental laws of physics in the universe
- To learn how the present universe came into being and what it is made of
The JUICE mission will seek an answer to the first and last of these questions. Moreover, during his journey to Jupiter, he will not only focus on Jupiter. He will also visit four different planets and moons on this journey.
The JUICE spacecraft will also have to endure extremely extreme conditions throughout its journey. The spacecraft will be exposed to temperatures from 250 degrees to -230 degrees Celsius.
The spacecraft will benefit from the “Moons and Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer” equipment developed by France and Italy for many of its observations in and around Jupiter. The equipment will allow us to learn the physico-chemical compositions of the Jupiter moons and provide details about the ice and water layers on the moons.
34816
