When and where to watch Europe launch Juice mission to Jupiter?
The European Space Agency (ESA) is all set to conduct one of the biggest launches of the year. The space agency will attempt to lift off its ambitious Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission aims to explore Jupiter and its icy moons in search of signs of life beyond Earth.
The spacecraft will be on an eight-year-long voyage to the gas giant and will reach Jupiter in 2031 with hopes of characterizing these moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats. The spacecraft will explore Jupiter’s complex environment in-depth, and study the wider Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants across the Universe.
When will the Juice mission launch?
The spacecraft will launch from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on April 13 to deep space. The mission is scheduled to lift off at 13:15 BST (5:45â€ïpm IST) on Europe's most powerful rocket - the Ariane-5. The spacecraft will separate nearly 30 minutes after being launched from French Guiana.
Where to watch Juice's mission launch.
India Today Science will bring you all the live coverage of the launch of the Juice mission to the biggest planet in the solar system. The European Space Agency is also conducting a live stream of the launch that you can watch here.
During its mission, Juice will monitor Jupiter’s complex magnetic, radiation, and plasma environment in depth and its interplay with the moons. The team at the European Space Agency conducted a dress rehearsal ahead of the launch.
The dress rehearsal was a live re-enactment of the countdown and every step that has to go right to declare launch readiness, from setting up the connection to Juice on the launch pad to establishing ground station links across the globe and ensuring all mission control software and systems are up and running.
