The European Space Agency (ESA) is kicking off its JUICE mission next week, which will orbit Jupiter's largest moon, the Ganymede, a first probe of its kind for the space agency.
Several months after ESA's Jupiter mission, NASA will launch another Jupiter mission, the Europa Clipper.
ESA's JUICE Mission: Europe's First-Ever Jupiter Probe
The ESA has yet to launch any probe into the largest planet in the solar system until now. Interesting Engineering reports that the Europe agency is now gearing up for its first-ever Jupiter probe mission.
Next week or on April 13, to be more precise, the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission is lifting off at around 8:15 am Eastern Daylight Time. JUICE launches from Europe's Spaceport, which sits at Kourou, French Guiana.
JUICE is not launching itself to Jupiter's largest moon. Instead, it will lift off atop an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket. The rocket will be one of the last to launch before the space exploration company introduces the next-generation Ariane 6 rocket sometime in 2023.
According to Space.com, the JUICE is set to orbit Jupiter for several years. Its journey should end in 2031. Besides the largest moon of Jupiter, the Ganymede, it will also fly by to probe the other Galilean moons on the planet, such as Callisto and Europa. The probe of these Jupiter moons seeks to confirm if they have water beneath their icy terrain.
The ESA further disclosed what the upcoming probe seeks to do. It states that "the mission will characterize these moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats."
Above and beyond that the JUICE mission also aims to "explore Jupiter's complex environment in depth." On top of these objectives, the probe should also help study the planet's system, considering it as an archetype for other gas giants in the entire universe, according to the mission description of the ESA.
Although Interesting Engineering notes that Jupiter currently flaunts 92 moons, the probe only seeks to study the four Galilean moons discovered by Galileo Galilei, an astronomer from Italy, in the first four years.
NASA's Mission to Jupiter
Besides Europe, the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) is also looking to launch another mission to Jupiter by late next year.
In fact, NASA currently has an ongoing Jupiter probe, the Juno. By next year, the space agency plans to launch the Europa Clipper. If everything goes well, it is expected to lift off atop the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket next year or sometime in October 2024.
As the name of the upcoming NASA mission gives away, the next Jupiter probe seeks to probe the "Clipper" moon of the largest planet in the solar system. Like ESA's JUICE, it will orbit the planet once it launches.
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