(Image credit: esa)
The European Space Agency's JUICE spacecraft was launched today (April 14) at 05.45 Sri Lanka time from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket after a one-day delay due to the threat of malfunction.
Jupiter and its three largest moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa, are to be studied under this mission. However, the main purpose of this is to understand whether there are habitable zones between those icy moons and around a giant planet like Jupiter. In 2031, this The spacecraft is going to reach Jupiter.
JUICE's science mission will begin even before reaching Jupiter.About six months after entering orbit, the spacecraft will begin observing the Jovian system using its suite of 10 science instruments.
Those instruments include a camera system, a spectrometer, a radar sounder, a laser altimeter, a magnetometer and a particle analyzer, among other instruments. JUICE will accelerate data collection once it reaches Jupiter. These probes will study the gas giant in depth and next look at the moons Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Close observations of the three moons will be made over 35 flybys from 2031 to 2034.
About 21 of these flybys will be made around Callisto, the most cratered world in the Solar System.
