The European Space Agency will make a second attempt to launch its mission to Jupiter and its moons after being postponed due to the risk of thunderstorms.
The six-ton probe, dubbed Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer), was scheduled to blast toward the solar system’s largest planet on Thursday to see if its ocean-bearing moons support life.
But weather conditions hinted at the possibility of lightning, temporarily disrupting the agency’s first attempt to send a spacecraft to another planet’s moon.
Arianespace, which co-developed the Ariane 5 rocket with Juice, said on Twitter that the next attempt will take place on April 14 at 1.14pm UK time.
Ahead of the launch, the agency tweeted that the weather looks good so far with more updates to come.
Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Space Agency, wished all teams involved in the mission the best of luck.
He tweeted: “We have waited many years for ESAJuice and we will wait another eight years for it to reach Jupiter.
“But the 24 hours between launch attempt 1 and launch attempt 2 feels like an eternity.
“Good luck to all teams today and good weather for a healthy start.”
After launch, Juice is expected to detach from the rocket about half an hour later and begin a 4.1 billion-mile journey that will take more than eight years.
Juice has 10 instruments on board that will study whether the gas giant’s three moons – Callisto, Europa and Ganymede – can support life in its oceans.
Scientists at Imperial College London have led the way in developing an instrument called the magnetometer.
Called J-MAG, it measures the properties of magnetic fields from Jupiter and Ganymede – the only known moon to produce its own magnetic field.
Engineers and mission leaders have a very short launch window — about a second — to launch the spacecraft on its journey.
This is because Venus and Earth must be in the perfect position for Juice to perform a maneuver known as gravitational assistance, where it uses the planets’ gravity to swing toward Jupiter.
Author: Anugraha Sundaravelu
Source: Subway
Source: Metro
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