ESA’s Jupiter-bound space mission makes second launch attempt today

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission — ‘Juice’ — is ready to embark on its journey to the solar system’s largest planet.

Juice is scheduled to launch today, April 14, at 14:14 CEST (13:15 BST) from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. 

The launch was supposed to take place yesterday but was postponed due to poor weather conditions.

Juice will make the 8-year, 6.6 billion km trip to study three of Jupiter’s moons: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. Each of these worlds has an ocean of water hidden underneath an icy shell — an important target for astronomers searching for life beyond Earth.   

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ESA will stream the launch live on its website and on its YouTube channel which you can view below. French viewers can access ESA’s Web TV Two.

The satellite will blast off atop Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket. Due to the intricacies of the trajectory that will take Juice to Jupiter, the rocket has to lift off during a one-second window. Fortunately, additional one-second launch windows will be available every day until the end of April, should today’s launch be unsuccessful.  

JUICE-ESA-launch-jupiter-space

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