The launch at Coro in French Guiana was postponed from yesterday due to weather conditions * The spacecraft is carrying ten instruments, some of which are also made in Israel * Will arrive in the Zedek system in July 2031
The European Space Agency's Juice spacecraft was launched today (14/4/2023) from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, using an Ariane-5 rocket, after a delay due to weather conditions. The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission aims to explore Jupiter's icy moons Callisto, Ganymede and Europa, which are believed to hold vast reserves of liquid water that may harbor life.
Scientists now speculate that despite being far from the Sun and receiving only one-twenty-fifth of the light that falls on Earth, Jupiter's gravitational forces provide enough heat and energy to support simple lunar ecosystems.
JUICE carries 10 scientific instruments to study the moons geology, internal structures and subsurface oceans, with a radar instrument designed to penetrate the ice crust to explore the depths of the oceans. The spacecraft will cover a journey of 6.6 billion km that will last 8.5 years - it will reach the Jupiter system in July 2031, using gravitational acceleration with the help of the gravity of Venus, the Earth and the Moon to reach its destination, where it will make a flyby near the three moons.
The Juice mission is a joint effort of more than 80 institutes and companies from Europe and the United States, and is seen as a significant step forward in our understanding of the solar system and the potential for life beyond Earth.
The mission will take about seven years to reach Jupiter, where it will make a series of flybys between the three moons. JUICE will use a variety of scientific instruments, including a radar instrument to study the subsurface oceans and a magnetometer to measure the magnetic fields around the moons.
The JUICE spacecraft is powered by a combination of solar panels and chemical thrusters, allowing it to maneuver through the Jupiter system. The mission is expected to cost approximately 1.5 billion euros and will include contributions from a variety of European and international partners.
The JUICE mission is seen as a significant achievement for the European Space Agency and its partners, as it represents a major step forward in our understanding of the Solar System and the potential for life beyond Earth.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
- The European spacecraft JUICE is ready to explore the icy moons of Jupiter; Will be launched on 13/4
- The Israeli point of the JUICE spacecraft that will be launched to Tzedek this week
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It seems to me that if they left the spaceship in storage for the next three years and then put it on Elon Musk's new starship (which by then will be technologically mature and worthy of launching such expensive spaceships), then it would be possible to equip it with enough fuel to send it on a direct course to Jupiter and they would arrive Jupiter is three years earlier, thus saving five and a half years of travel in the inner solar system.
The series of articles about JUICE is beautiful and enlightening. Thanks to my father. The project is serious - a journey to justice is more difficult than a journey to the moon, controlling an aircraft remotely, or without human contact, is an achievement. Investigating for the first time whether there is life on Jupiter's moons. There is water there, volcanic activity is possible. Life on Earth began under such conditions. Even if they started according to panspermia theory (by seeding from rocks that came from outside the earth), rocks that come from outside the solar system first hit Jupiter after that on the earth. Interesting future studies.
Thanks
It is not possible to colonize other planets like this. There are on paper fast drive solutions. We must apply what is applicable to the middle generation. A journey to justice should not take 6 years. Radiation sail, nuclear propulsion with a nuclear reactor for everything.
The Europeans are too delicate - and thus sin against the vision of colonizing other planets. Judging by the amount of ignorant people in our country and other countries, humanity with nuclear weapons may not survive itself. Therefore, in my understanding, we have a moral obligation to settle on another planet.
The spacecraft was launched on April 14th, not on the 15th.