The launch of Juice, the mission that will visit Jupiter’s icy moons Ganymede, Europa and Callisto for the first time, is delayed by at least 24 hours. The European Space Agency (ESA), the body responsible for the project, and the company that operates the rocket in which the probe will travel, Ariane Space, have made this decision due to bad weather in Kourou (French Guiana), where the Launch pad.
“Today’s flight VA260 was delayed due to weather conditions (lightning risk) at the scheduled takeoff time from the European spaceport in French Guiana,” Ariane Space wrote on her social media account. “The Ariane 5 launch vehicle and its passenger JUICE are in a stable and safe condition.”
Today’s Flight #VA260 has been delayed due to weather condition (risk of lightning) at the scheduled liftoff time from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
The Ariane 5 launch vehicle and its passenger JUICE are in stable and safe condition.
— Arianespace (@Arianespace) April 13, 2023
The weather predictions for the following days in Kourou are not very encouraging, as thunderstorms are expected throughout the week. The Juice mission has a launch window of one month, so lift-off could be delayed until mid-May. However, for reasons of saving fuel, the maneuver can only take place in a specific second at 2:14 p.m. (Spanish time), although the team has managed to extend the operating margin a little more to absorb possible delays.
“We try to get the planets aligned on launch, or gravity assist maneuvers to get to Jupiter with as little as three and a half tons of fuel,” Justin Byrne, Airbus’ head of Science Programs, told Space.com. Defense and Space, a company also involved in the project. “So we have a one-second launch window to get Juice into the correct orbit.”
three out of ninety three
Jupiter has 93 known satellites, including the four Galilean satellites, named after Galileo, its discoverer. These are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto which, together with the faint ring of Jupiter and a trio of small moons (Amalthea, Metis and Thebe), form a sort of ‘mini-solar system’, with circular and flat orbits with respect to the sun. equator of the planet.
After an eight-year journey and aided by the gravity of Earth, the Moon and Venus, the Juice mission will survey Ganymede, Callisto and Europa with a powerful suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments to discover if these worlds are potentially habitable. . In addition, the probe will take an in-depth look at Jupiter’s complex plasma, radiation and magnetic environment and its interaction with the moons, studying the system as a model for gas giant systems throughout the Universe.
Those responsible point out that Juice will face challenges that no other European mission has ever faced: for example, the sunlight collected by its solar panels will be 25 times weaker than what can be collected when orbiting the Earth. The immense distances—hundreds of millions of kilometers from Earth—require a large 2.5-meter-diameter antenna on board to guarantee sufficient transmission speeds for downloading scientific data.
“It is one of the most complex space objects ever sent to the outer solar system,” stressed ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher. Conceived by Airbus, Juice carries ten scientific instruments (optical camera, imaging spectrometer, radar, altimeter, magnetometer…), protected from extreme temperatures by a multi-layer insulation cover.
The probe is also equipped with huge 85-square-meter solar panels to conserve power in an environment where sunlight is 25 times weaker than on Earth. Arrival is scheduled for July 2031.