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In Kourou, at the Guiana space center, a new attempt to launch the Ariane 5 rocket must take place this Friday, at the start of the afternoon (French time) after yesterday’s postponement. The rocket carries the Juice probe to Jupiter. Its mission: to study the moons of the largest planet in the solar system, some of which have oceans of liquid water.
with our special correspondent in Kourou, Simon Rose
It’s been a long time‘Ines Belgacem works on the probe Juice. The planetary scientistEuropean Space Agency has the equivalent of the last seven years of his life housed at the top of the Ariane 5 rocket too, inevitably, on Thursday, as the count approaches 0, many feelings are mixed. « It’s stress, it’s joy, it’s lucky to be there, to be able to see it for real, to be able to experience it here, so close! »
But now, ten minutes before the end of the countdown, the Jupiter control center announces the bad news.
weather red
« The last weather check was not good, there was a risk of lightning. We see a red light on the control screen. But what’s important is that the pitcher and Juice are safe “, explains Stéphane Israël, the boss of Arianespace.
► Read also : The scientific instruments of the Juice probe, “a marvel of technology”
Red weather, in clear it means risk of storm. One can easily imagine the consternation of the teams at the sight of a rocket struck down in full flight. At the observation site, of course, it’s disappointment. « We really believed in it and well, these are the vagaries of the launches unfortunately, lance philosopher Inès Belgacem. It is in our interest to launch as soon as possible to be able to have a little margin behind. The optimal was today, but we will always be very happy if we launch tomorrow! »
A new test takes place this Friday at 12:14 UT. If successful, Juice will then take eight years to join Jupiter. This one-day postponement will be well forgotten by then…