TLP was honoured to be invited to visit ESA's JUICE (JUpiter ICy Moon Explorer) spacecraft at Airbus's clean room in Toulouse, France, ahead of the spacecraft's journey to its launch site in Kourou, French Guiana.

JUICE will launch aboard Arianespace's Ariane 5 launcher between April 5-30 this year, on what will be the second last flight of Ariane 5 - last science mission of the launcher.

What Is JUICE?

Credit: Arnaud Muller // The Launch Pad

JUpiter ICy Moon Explorer (JUICE) is a spacecraft designed by ESA in partnership with Airbus Defence and Space. It will conduct detailed studies of Jupiter's atmosphere, magnetosphere, and its moons Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto over a period of at least 4 years. The mission's goals include studying the potential habitability of these moons, as well as their geology, chemistry and dynamics.

JUICE will arrive at Jupiter in July 2031 which it will orbit for 4 years before heading for Jupiter's Moons.

The Team Behind It

Credit: Arnaud Muller // The Launch Pad

In 2015, ESA selected Airbus as the prime contractor for the revolutionary JUICE spacecraft, since then Airbus teams alongside other European partners have been hard at work to design, develop and test the spacecraft to get it to the point it's at today.

Galileo Plaque

Galileo Plaque being installed on JUICE // Credit: Arnaud Muller // The Launch Pad

A Galileo plaque is a small plaque that is carried on spacecraft's as a tribute to the Italian astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei. It was first included on NASA's Pioneer spacecraft which launched back in 1972, and has been included in other milestone missions - including Voyager - and now JUICE.

Additional Photos

I would like to express our appreciation for the hundreds of engineers who have made JUICE a reality, hard work truly pays off. I would also like to thank the media relations teams at ESA and Airbus who organised today's event.