The European probe Juice took off this Friday, April 14, from Kourou, in Guyana, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket. It is heading to the planet Jupiter and its icy moons, in search of habitable environments for extraterrestrial life.
A first takeoff, initially scheduled for Thursday, was canceled by the teams from the Guiana Space Center due to the risk of lightning, while several personalities, including the Belgian king Philippe and the French astronauts Thomas Pesquet and the German Matthias Maurer, We came to watch the launch from the Jupiter control room.
Unlike conventional launches, which have a certain amount of time to lift off, Juice’s launch window is close to one second, due to the particular orbit it is headed for.
an eight year journey
According to the flight schedule, the six-tonne probe will separate from the rocket 27 minutes after liftoff, at an altitude of about 1,500 kilometers.
This will then be the beginning of an eight-year odyssey for Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer), the flagship mission of the European Space Agency (ESA).
As it sets off to explore Jupiter and its icy moons, the probe searches for habitable environments for alien life forms. It will not reach its destination until 2031, more than 620 million kilometers from Earth, after a rough journey.
Source: BFM TV
