We have JUICE (and it’s very scientifically based!)

No, not juicy gossip or vague rumors to gloat over, but a real space mission to perhaps the most exciting celestial bodies in our solar system. Discover JUICE!

The year 2023 has arrived. And the countdown has begun. In April this year – after years of tinkering and testing – ESAs will finally be launched Explorer of the icy moons of Jupiter – JUICE for short – in the air. An incredible mission to Jupiter and some of its most exciting moons!

Throw
As it stands, JUICE will take flight from Kourou, French Guiana between April 5 and 25. An Ariane 5 rocket will propel the probe into space, after which the probe will also need gravitational oscillations from Earth and Venus to arrive at Jupiter. It will be a long journey; arrival is currently scheduled for July 2031. However, approximately six months prior to arrival, JUICE will already begin observing its final destination: Jupiter and its moons.

DID YOU KNOW…
…JUICE was still in the Netherlands in 2021? The probe arrived in Noordwijk in April this year. There it was tested in the ESA ESTEC test center in the Great Space Simulator mis. In this simulator, the conditions to which the probe will be exposed in space have been closely simulated. This was used to test if JUICE works as expected under these conditions. After passing these tests, JUICE traveled to Toulouse for further tests. The last stop on land is Kourou in French Guiana. From there, JUICE will launch in a few months. This launch is also quite special; this is in fact the very last launch with an Ariane 5 rocket. After this launch, a switch will be made to the Ariane 6 rocket.

The mission
Once near Jupiter, JUICE will orbit the gas giant using a gravitational pendulum from Ganymede, Jupiter’s moon. Once in orbit around Jupiter, JUICE has four years to unlock the big secrets of Jupiter and some of the gas giant’s large moons – Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. The main objective of the mission is to discover how potentially habitable worlds can emerge around the gas giants. Not only are we increasing our understanding of Jupiter and the moons that orbit it; the findings may also have implications for the myriad gas giants orbiting other stars. Because if potentially habitable worlds can form around a gas giant in our solar system, why shouldn’t that happen around gas giants outside our solar system?

Europe
One of the worlds that scientists generally pay attention to above average is Europe. The moon has an icy surface, but there is thought to be a liquid ocean below, in which extraterrestrial life forms may be waiting to be discovered. JUICE will take a closer look at this moon – considered one of the best candidates for extraterrestrial life in our solar system – during two flybys in July 2032. For example, JUICE will research the composition of JUICE’s surface and look for actively liquid water below the surface. JUICE must also chase away the plumes of water escaping from the surface of Europa. It is still unclear where the water in these plumes comes from; hopefully, of course, this is ocean water that somehow manages to find its way through the ice sheet. After all, in this scenario, we would be able to sample this subterranean ocean much more easily than expected. But at the moment, it cannot yet be ruled out that the water comes from saline water reservoirs located in the ice cap itself.

Callisto
But not only Europe can benefit from the attention of JUICE; the probe also flies over Callisto several times. During these flybys, JUICE will take a closer look at this heavily cratered world, which may also hide an underground ocean. But rollovers have another function; they need to alter JUICE’s orbit so that it can also better explore Jupiter’s higher latitudes and poles.

Ganymede
In 2034, JUICE must then go down in history by settling in orbit around Ganymede. The probe will then go down in history as the first spacecraft to orbit the moon of a planet other than Earth. From this orbit, JUICE will study, among other things, the magnetosphere of Ganymede, as well as the atmosphere and the surface of the moon. JUICE will also investigate the ocean lurking beneath the surface, further exploring the idea that this moon is also potentially habitable.

frame
During this last part of the mission, Ganymede’s gravity pulls JUICE in a bit. Initially, the probe will still have enough fuel to counter, but gradually JUICE’s reserves will also be depleted and it will move closer and closer to Ganymede, eventually touching the moon towards the end of 2035.

By then, however, we will have learned much more about Jupiter and its potentially habitable moons. Not only thanks to ESA’s JUICE, but also thanks to NASA’s Clipper: an orbiter that will take off in 2024. Clipper will carry out specific research on the habitability of Europa and must find a suitable landing site for the Europa Lander, which will have to hunt traces of life on the surface of the fascinating moon a few years later.