Weather conditions they frustrated the takeoff of flight VA260. On Thursday, April 13, the Ariane 5, the European Space Agency (ESA) vehicle that will take the Juice probe to Jupiter and several of its icy moons, was scheduled to take off, but bad weather forced a delay. the launch. For now, and if there are no changes, takeoff is scheduled for this Friday, at the same time, at which time a space mission of nearly a decade which aims to observe and explore “Jupiter’s complex environment” and study its composition and chemistry, as well as that of several of its icy moons.
Juice, an acronym for Jupiter Icy Moons Explore (explorer of the Jupiter’s icy moons)this will leave Friday April 14 at 2:14 p.m. (Spanish peninsular time) from the European spaceport of Kourou, in French Guiana, conditions permitting.
He launch can be followed live, as well as the progress of the investigation, as Juice deploys its antennas and instrument arms, through the agency’s Twitter accounts (@ESA_Juice and @esaoperations). This is all the information that will be broadcast live this Friday:
- 1:45 p.m. – Juice launch broadcast begins
- 14:14 – Estimated time of liftoff of Juice on Ariane 5
- 14:42 – Juice separates from the top of the launch vehicle
- 14:51 – From this time it is expected to receive the signal from Juice
- 15:55 – From this moment the deployment of solar panels is expected to be completed
Although the schedules are very exact, the truth is that they are indicative and may be subject to certain variations, in principle of minutes. However, depending on the weather forecast, it will be seen if, on this second attempt, the Juice finally takes off towards Jupiter.