Juice Mission Blasts Off To Jupiter To Look for Signs of Life

The European Space Agency's Juice probe has blasted off on a landmark mission to Jupiter's moons, rising on a plume of white from its launchpad in Kourou, French Guiana, on the north-eastern shoulder of South America. From a report: The mission, which was delayed for 24 hours after lightning threatened to strike on Thursday, intends to uncover the secrets of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, its enormous polar auroras, and how its mighty magnetic field shapes conditions on the gas giant's nearby moons. It is the moons themselves that are the main attraction. Despite the frigid conditions that prevail, nearly half a billion miles from the sun, Juice will visit three of Jupiter's moons -- Europa, Callisto and Ganymede -- which harbour deep liquid water oceans beneath their icy surfaces. The discovery of sub-surface saltwater oceans on Jupiter's moons has pushed them high up the list of solar system venues to explore for signs of life and habitability. If hydrothermal vents -- found on ocean floors all over Earth -- exist on the Jovian moons, they may provide enough warmth for life to thrive in the darkness. "I'm so thrilled to see Juice finally on its way," said Prof Andrew Coates, from the UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory, who helped build two instruments on Juice called Pep and Janus. "This is an excellent mission to look at habitability of Jupiter's moons."

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