Mission

Juice

ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, launched in April 2023, to study Jupiter and its ocean moons and to become the first spacecraft to orbit Ganymede.

Juice, ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, is a European Space Agency mission to study Jupiter and three of its large moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa, which are thought to hold oceans beneath their surfaces.[1] It is to study the moons both as worlds and as possible habitats.[1]

The journey

Juice launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on 14 April 2023.[1] Its route uses a series of gravity assists: a combined Moon and Earth flyby in August 2024, Venus in August 2025, Earth in September 2026 and Earth again in January 2029.[1] The September 2026 flyby passed 8,640 km above the Indian Ocean, bent the spacecraft's path by 20° and raised its speed by 3.5 km per second.[2] Arrival at Jupiter is planned for July 2031.[1]

At Jupiter

At Jupiter, Juice is to make five flybys of Ganymede in 2031 and 2032 to reduce its orbital energy, and 21 flybys of Callisto between 2032 and 2034.[3] It is then to move into orbit around Ganymede, beginning its main study of the moon in late 2034, and to end its mission by colliding with Ganymede's surface in 2035.[3]

NASA's Juno helped prepare the way for Juice at Jupiter.[4] NASA's Europa Clipper is devoted to Europa.

Milestones

  1. April 14, 2023
    Launch on Ariane 5
  2. September 28, 2026
    Earth gravity assist
  3. January 2029 expected
    Final Earth gravity assist
  4. July 2031 expected
    Enters orbit around Jupiter
  5. In 2034 expected
    Enters orbit around Ganymede

Dates marked expected are agency estimates.

All missions and what each does next

Sources

  1. [1]European Space Agency, Juice — esa.int, retrieved October 26, 2026
  2. [2]European Space Agency, Successful Earth flyby improves Juice's course to Jupiter — esa.int, retrieved October 26, 2026
  3. [3]European Space Agency, The moons of Jupiter: What will Juice discover? — esa.int, retrieved October 26, 2026
  4. [4]NASA, Juno — science.nasa.gov, retrieved October 26, 2026

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