Europe is going to Jupiter
07 May 2012
Europe is going to visit Jupiter and its icy moons! The mission has been named JUICE, for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer. It will be launched 10 years from now, in 2022, on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou in French Guiana.
It will take JUICE 8 years to reach Jupiter, after which it will start making detailed observations of the largest planet of our Solar System and its moons.
Three of Jupiter’s moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa, are thought to have oceans inside. JUICE will study different characteristics of each moon, such as the thickness of Europa’s icy crust and the icy surface and internal structure of Ganymede.
JUICE will give us a better understanding of how gas giants and their orbiting worlds form, and their potential for hosting life.
