On Friday 14 April, after a 24-hour delay, the Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) probe took off from Kourou to explore Jupiter and its icy moons.
According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the probe will make detailed observations of the gas giant planet Jupiter and its three large oceanic moons - Callisto, Europa and especially Ganymede - with a payload of ten unique scientific instruments, an interferometric experiment and a radiation monitor.
The mission will explore the icy moons, in particular Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, which has its own magnetic field and an ocean of liquid water. Juice will be the first spacecraft to orbit a moon of a planet other than Earth (Ganymede).
It will also investigate the complex environment of Jupiter and study its system as a model for gas giant planets in the Universe.
Over the next two and a half weeks, Juice will deploy its various antennae and instrument booms to study Jupiter’s environment and the subsurface of the icy moons.
The probe should arrive at Jupiter in July 2031 and at Ganymede in December 2034. Between July 2031 and November 2034, it is expected to make 35 flybys of the icy moons.
On its way to Jupiter, it will perform the first-ever Moon-Earth gravity assist to save its propellant, ESA explains on its website. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)