space travel
New launch attempt for Jupiter probe “Juice” on Friday
View into a control room of the Guiana Space Center before the launch of the ESA mission “Juice” (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer). The probe is to explore three moons of the gas giant Jupiter from 2031. photo
© Eric Lalmand/Belga/dpa
The launch was canceled just minutes before the scheduled date. Now there should be a new start for the eight-year journey of the Jupiter probe “Juice” on Friday.
After the postponement of its launch on Thursday, the Jupiter probe “Juice” of the European space agency Esa is now scheduled to take off on Friday. The launch at the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana is scheduled for 2:14 p.m. On Thursday it was canceled a few minutes before the scheduled date. There was a risk of thunderstorms, said an Esa spokesman in the control center in Darmstadt. The probe is controlled from there.
After a successful launch on board an Ariane 5 launch vehicle, the “Juice” probe will be on its way to the giant gas planet Jupiter for eight years. Then scientists hope to gain important insights into the largest planet in our solar system and its moons: the question at stake is whether life could exist on them.
Before it can begin its work on Jupiter, the probe has a long journey ahead of it. The arrival at Jupiter is planned for the year 2031. This is the farthest mission ever undertaken by the European space agency Esa. The probe has ten scientific instruments on board, with which it is to take a look at the moons “Europa”, “Kallisto” and “Ganymede”. Among other things, radar and laser measurements are planned in the flyby.
The “Juice” probe (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) is to be supplied with energy via solar panels with a total size of 85 square meters.
DLR on Jupiter Esa on “Juice”