The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer will soon be on its way to JUpiter and three of its moons.
Rockets launches happen every day, right? Increasingly, yes, but most of them are routine. However, it’s not often you get to watch a massive rocket blast-off to a planet. That’s what’s happening this week as the European Space Agency (ESA) sends its JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) mission—first dreamed-up in 2004 and a live mission since 2014—skywards from South America.
Here’s everything you need to know to see Europ’s mighty Ariane 5 rocket take JUICE away from the gravitational influence of Earth and into an orbit around the Sun:
What is JUICE?
JUICE is a flagship mission from ESA and its first to Jupiter. Delayed from May 2022, it will soon begin an eight-year interplanetary cruise to the Jupiter system via various slingshots around Earth and Venus before arriving in the Jovian system in July 2031. JUICE is the first L-class mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme and it’s costing about €1.6 billion ($1.7 billion).
When will JUICE launch?
JUICE is scheduled to launch at 12:15 UTC (8:15 a.m. EDT) on April 13, 2023 on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America. The launch window lasts through April 25, 2023.
Where to watch the JUICE launch live
The best place to watch the launch will be ESA Web TV, ESA’s digital channel, which will stream the entire event live online.
How risky is this launch?
The Ariane 5 has been around since the 1990s and has a very high success rate, but a rocket launch is still the most unpredictable part of any space exploration mission.
What will JUICE do?
It will closely study three of Jupiter’s icy moons. After two flybys of Europa, 21 flybys of Callisto and 12 flybys of Ganymede—all within 67 orbits of Jupiter that will include views of the giant planet’s polar regions—JUICE will go into orbit of Ganymede in December 2034 and spend nine months imaging, mapping and taking measurements.
In late 2035 the mission will end when JUICE strikes the surface of Ganymede and is destroyed—mostly to prevent the spacecraft from contaminating Europa, which is suspected to possibly contain microbial life.
The JUICE mission profile
Here’s the timeline of what engineers have in plan for the spacecraft:
- April 5–25, 2023: launch from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou.
- August 2024: first gravity assist flyby of Earth and the Moon.
- August 2025: gravity assist flyby of Venus.
- September 2026: second gravity assist flyby of Earth.
- January 2029: third gravity assist flyby of Earth.
- January 2031: science mission begins with first images of Jupiter.
- July 2031: arrives in the Jovian system.
- June 2032: first of 21 flybys of Callisto (2032-2034).
- July 2032: two flybys of Europa.
- December 2034: orbital insertion at Ganymede (after 12 flybys).
- Late 2035: mission ends with JUICE plunging into Ganymede.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
