On Friday, April 14, the European Space Agency launched from the Kourou launch site in French Guiana, a rocket to Jupiter. The spacecraft carries 10 advanced scientific instruments to study the moons of Jupiter, first discovered by Galileo in 1610.
The ESA mission is looking for life underneath the frozen landscape of the moons. The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission will take more than four years, with a series of gravitational assists past Venus, Mars and Earth to give it more speed. When JUICE arrives at Jupiter, it will repeatedly fly past the three moons Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede, carefully staying outside the gas giant’s dangerous radiation belts.
