ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, is humanity’s next Jupiter explorer. The bold mission will make detailed observations of the giant gas planet and its three large ocean-bearing moons – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa – with a suite of instruments. Juice will characterise these moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats, explore Jupiter’s complex environment in depth, and study the wider Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants across the Universe.

The mission will not be easy: Juice’s makers have overcome enormous scientific and technical challenges to plan its journey, construct its body, programme its brain and finetune its ingenious instruments. Having overcome challenges that no other European mission has ever had to face, the people behind Juice are now confident of success.

Juice will spend four years in the Jovian system, with the first 3.5 years spent orbiting Jupiter and making flybys of the three moons. During this phase of the mission, Juice will study Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere, its enormous magnetic field and the dusty rings and myriad smaller moons that orbit the planet.

Discover the main questions that Juice seeks to answer about Jupiter and its environment.

Credit: ESA / ATG medialab