Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer
Sign in to saveAlso known as JUICE, Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer
mission of the European Space Agency to explore Jupiter’s moons
Key facts
- Names
- Juice
- Mission type
- Jupiter orbiter
- Operator
- European Space Agency
- Cospar id
- 2023-053A
- Website
- Official website
- Mission duration
- Cruise phase:, 8 years Science phase:, 3.5 years Elapsed:, 3 years, 1 month, 20 days
- Manufacturer
- Airbus Defence and Space
- Launch mass
- 6,070 kg (13,380 lb)
- Dry mass
- 2,420 kg (5,340 lb)
- Dimensions
- 16.8 × 27.1 × 13.7 meters
- Power
- 850 watts
- Launch date
- 14 April 2023 12:14:36 UTC
- Rocket
- Ariane 5 ECA+ ( VA-260 )
- Launch site
- Kourou ELA-3
- Contractor
- Arianespace
- Closest approach
- 19 August 2024, 21:16 UTC
- Distance
- 700 km (430 mi)
- Orbital insertion
- July 2031 (planned)
via Wikipedia infobox
~27 min read
Encyclopedic overview
ESA insignia Cosmic Vision (Science Programme)
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice, formerly JUICE) is an interplanetary spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). It is on its way to orbit and study three icy moons of Jupiter: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. These planetary-mass moons are targets for study because they are thought to have significant bodies of liquid water beneath their frozen surfaces, which would make them potentially habitable for extraterrestrial life.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.