Launch of the Juice mission is postponed due to the risk of lightning – 04/13/2023 – Science

The Juice mission that was scheduled to be launched this Thursday (13) was postponed due to weather problems. “Today’s launch has been postponed due to the risk of lightning,” the European Space Agency (ESA) said on its Twitter account.

The forecast is that a new launch attempt will take place tomorrow (14) at 9:14 am, Brasília time.

Juice, an acronym for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or Explorer of the Icy Moons of Jupiter, would be launched from the center of Kourou, in French Guiana, towards the largest planet in the Solar System.

The ESA (European Space Agency) probe, which cost 1.5 billion euros, was encapsulated on top of the Ariane 5 rocket at the beginning of the long journey to its final destination.

The trip will involve using the gravity of the Moon, Earth and Venus to slingshot it to Jupiter, arriving there only in July 2031, when it will become the first non-US mission to explore the planet.

Its main objectives are to make a complete characterization of the gas giant and a detailed study of three of its four largest moons: Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. There are strong indications that at least the first two, but possibly all three, are ocean moons, that is, they have saltwater oceans beneath their frozen crusts.

With an impressive set of sensors, Juice will try to characterize these oceans and maybe even find possible biochemical signatures that there may be life thriving there (although this is not a declared objective of the initiative).

ArianeSpace, which produces the Ariane 5 rocket, reported that the bad weather condition this Thursday (13) did not affect the equipment, which is in a “stable and safe” condition.