Jupiter Juice mission: ESA sends spacecraft to find alien worlds in our solar system
The European Space Agency’s Juice mission has launched, and is now on its way to find habitable worlds inside our solar system.
The Ariane 5 rocket successfully blasted off from the agency’s spaceport in French Guiana, the start of an eight-year journey to Jupiter and its moons.
:: Follow the latest on the launch here.
Juice has 10 instruments on board, which will investigate whether the gas giant’s three moons - Callisto, Europa and Ganymede - can support life in its oceans.
Scientists from Imperial College London have led the development of one instrument, known as the magnetometer.
Called J-MAG, it will measure the characteristics of magnetic fields of Jupiter and Ganymede - the only moon known to produce its own magnetic field.
Engineers and mission controllers have very a short launch window - about one second long - to send the spacecraft on its journey.
This is because Venus and Earth need to be in the perfect position for Juice to perform a manoeuvre known as gravitational assist, where it will use the gravity of the planets to slingshot towards Jupiter.
