Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer Mission Launch: New Images | European Space Agency

Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer Mission Launch: New Images | European Space Agency

The European Space Agency’s JUICE mission (JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer) was successfully launched by an Ariane 5 launch vehicle from Ariane Launch Complex No. 3 (ELA 3) at Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, on April 14, 2023, at 12:14 UTC (09:14 local time).

The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft is embarking on an eight-year cruise to Jupiter after its successful launch on April 14, 2023. 

The JUICE spacecraft is humankind’s next bold mission to the outer Solar System. This ambitious mission will characterize Ganymede, Callisto and Europa with a powerful suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments to discover more about these compelling destinations as potential habitats for past or present life. JUICE will monitor Jupiter’s complex magnetic, radiation and plasma environment in depth and its interplay with the moons, studying the Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giant systems across the Universe.

On its journey, JUICE will make a series of flybys of Earth, the Earth-Moon system and Venus to set it on course for its July 2031 rendezvous in the Jovian system.

The JUICE launch itself was a historical milestone for more reasons than one. It was the final launch for Ariane 5, ending the launcher's nearly three-decade run as one of the world’s most successful heavy-lift rockets. Its duties are being taken over by Ariane 6.

Learn more about the JUICE Mission: https://bit.ly/JuiceESAScience

Image Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Arianespace

Capture Date: April 14, 2023

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