The explorer will study the icy surfaces of the planet and its satellites to look for signs of liquid water
Photo: ESA / Twitter_ The European Space Agency (ESA) successfully launched the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) from Kourou, French Guiana at 5.44pm IST April 14, 2023.
Juice is expected to reach Jupiter in 2031. It will make multiple flybys of Jupiter's satellites Ganymede, Callisto and Europa before orbiting around Ganymede.
“We want to see whether, around Jupiter, there are places where life could have started. To explore that, we need to find places where there is internal energy, and if there is liquid water,” said Olivier Witasse, JUICE project scientist, ESA.
“Inside icy moons, we have good reason to believe that, in fact, there is more liquid water inside the surface than on Earth,” he added.
The spacecraft is armed with a suite of remote-sensing, geophysical and in-situ instruments.
Besides characterising these moons as planetary objects and possible habitats, the mission will explore Jupiter’s complex environment extensively and study the wider Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants across the Universe, according to the ESA.
Researchers believe that Ganymede (the largest Jovian moon) and Callisto (the second-largest) are ocean worlds.
Around Ganymede and Callisto (to a large extent), the 1.7 billion dollar mission’s primary objectives are to characterise the ocean layers and detect subsurface water reservoirs. It will also map the topography, geology and composition of the surface.
The goal is also to study Ganymede's intrinsic magnetic field and how it interacts with the Jovian magnetosphere.
In 1996, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft revealed that Ganymede has its own magnetic field — the only moon with an intrinsic magnetic field.
ESA has different plans for Europa, a top contender for finding life, as it possesses environments suitable for some form of life.
Juice will study its chemistry, including organic molecules, and understand its surface features and the composition of the non-water-ice material, according to NASA.
Europa has all three essential ingredients to support life: Liquid water, an energy source and organic compounds that act as building blocks for biological processes.
Juice’s main engine contains a bi-propellant: Mono-methyl hydrazine and mixed oxides of nitrogen.
Further, the spacecraft will be powered by 10 solar arrays arranged in two wings, stretching 27 meters from tip to tip. It can produce about 850 watt power at Jupiter.
It also comes equipped with radiation shielding to protect the spacecraft’s electronics from the Jovian environment.
The mission has a lifespan of about three years. But its life could extend by 200 or more days.
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