English: ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission will use ten unique science instruments, one experiment and one radiation monitor to characterise Jupiter’s ocean-bearing icy moons as planetary objects and possible habitats, explore Jupiter’s complex environment in depth, and study the Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants across the Universe.
Led by ESA, Juice was also made possible thanks to contributions from NASA, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Israel Space Agency and numerous other organisations. It will launch on an Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana in April 2023.
Juice’s overarching theme is the emergence of habitable worlds around gas giants. In the Solar System, we know of only one place where life has emerged: Earth. Is the origin of life unique to our planet, or could it occur elsewhere in our Solar System – and beyond?
The mission will consider two key themes of ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015–2025: What are the conditions for planet formation and the emergence of life? and How does the Solar System work?
Under these themes, Juice will explore a) the habitable zone – namely characterising the oceans, icy shells, compositions, surfaces, environments and activity of Ganymede, Europa and Callisto – and b) the wider Jupiter system, characterising Jupiter’s atmosphere, magnetic environment, ring system and other satellites (including Io).
Juice will complete a number of Solar System firsts. It will be the first spacecraft ever to orbit a moon other than our own – Jupiter’s largest moon Ganymede. And en-route to Jupiter it will perform the first ever lunar-Earth gravity assist to save propellant.
For more information, take a look at our Juice factsheet.