JUICE Mission

JUICE Mission
 

News: The European Space Agency (ESA) is all set to launch the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer or Juice mission. The spacecraft is expected to reach Jupiter by 2031.
 

About:
 It is launched to make detailed observations of Jupiter and its three large ocean-bearing moons — Ganymede, Callisto and Europa by using remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments.
 Its prime focus will be on Ganymede, as it is the largest moon in the Solar System, larger than Pluto and Mercury and the only one to generate its own magnetic field.
 

What could possibly be outcomes of JUICE mission?
 The three moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa are believed to hold immense amounts of water which could be around six times more than the volume of water in Earth’s oceans, there is a possibility that life is present on them. According to ESA, life on these moons could be in the form of microbes. However, JUICE isn’t equipped to detect life.
 

What about previous exploration to Jupiter?
 Two other spacecraft have ever examined Jupiter: The Galileo probe, which orbited the planet between 1995 and 2003, and Juno, which has been circling the planet since 2016.
 By the time the Juice mission reaches Jupiter, another spacecraft, NASA’s Europa Clipper, would already be orbiting the planet.