Juice: The European Space Agency’s mission to find alien life on Jupiter’s moons
A space mission with a name like no other is about to embark on a journey to find alien life on the moons of Jupiter.
Juice (that’s short for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) is a European Space Agency (ESA) venture to make unprecedentedly detailed observations of the gas giant.
It will include searching its icy moons – Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa, which each have their own oceans – to find out whether they could have supported life, and maybe if they still do.
As the final countdown to launch approaches, here’s everything you need to know about humanity’s latest quest to explore the stars.
An artist’s impression of Juice in space. Pic: ESA
When and where is the launch?
Juice is planned to launch at 1.15pm UK time on Thursday.
It will be fired skyward aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the ESA’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
So yes, it’s not actually launching from Europe, but rather a French territory on the north coast of South America.
A livestream of the launch will begin around half an hour before the blast-off time, so you can get swept up in the excitement before the real action begins.
If the timings go to plan, Juice will separate from the upper stage of Ariane 5 at 1.42pm UK time, and should send its first signal down to the Earth’s surface by 1.51pm, allowing mission crews to take control of the craft.
Juice meets Ariane 5. Pic: ESA
How long will the mission go on for?
Quite some time, you certainly won’t be tuning in for a livestream of the entire mission.
Juice’s total cruise time will be eight years and include flybys of Earth and Venus on its way to Jupiter, where it will make close encounters with its three moons.
They will be observed using remote sensing and geophysical tools, as well as equipment on the craft.
Jupiter itself will also be closely examined, with astronomers hoping that knowledge gained about its complex magnetic, radiation, and plasma environment will help inform studies of other gas giants.
One of which is Saturn, another gas giant with moons boasting oceans that could support life. Such worlds have the greatest known reserves of water outside Earth, and Juice is the first mission to explore them.
The ESA will be assisted in its work by NASA, and the space agencies of Japan and Israel.
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Why are we still racing to space?
What do we know about the spacecraft and rocket?
Every space launch is something of an engineering miracle, but Ariane 5 is relatively standard so far as rockets go.
Described by the ESA as “the workhorse” of its access to space, it’s not to the level of NASA’s record-breaking, multibillion-dollar Space Launch System powering the Artemis programme.
That said, Ariane 5 did carry NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope into orbit in December 2021.
The ESA has launched more than 100 Ariane 5 rockets, and it will finally be retired next year. You can probably guess what its successor is called.
An Ariane 5 carries the James Webb Space Telescope
Juice is pretty much top of the line so far as probes go – and it cost £1.4bn.
Much of that went towards making sure solar power can work in a section of space that enjoys just 3% of the illumination Earth gets from the sun. Earth is about 93 million miles from the sun, Jupiter isn’t far off 500 million.
It is, as Juice spacecraft manager Christian Erd described it…
‘A faraway, dark place’
The Juice mission’s intrepid team of engineers were tasked with developing capable solar cells that could operate in super dark conditions.
The result were ones with a “triple junction” design – that means three layers of cells are placed on top of each other, generating power from different wavelengths of sunlight.
It makes them more efficient than those made for previous missions, but the task at hand was still a tough one.
Preparing to test a standard triple junction solar cell for the Juice mission. Pic: ESA
Solar cell engineer Carsten Baur said the solar power received around Jupiter was “like going indoors” compared to what you would get near Earth.
Speaking of going indoors, Juice needs to be covered in so many solar cells (24,000) that there are enough to fill an average-sized living room.
In a vote of confidence, NASA is using them for its own Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter in 2024.
It’s due to arrive at Jupiter by 2030, beating Juice by a year thanks to taking a shorter route.
NASA’s Europa Clipper uses the same solar cells and panels as ESA’s Juice. Pic: ESA
Juice will end its mission by going into orbit around Ganymede, marking the first time a spacecraft has ever been stationed at a moon other than Earth’s. It’s expected to happen in 2034.
Indeed, this spacecraft will be making history for a long time to come.
World
Stock markets slump for second day running after Trump announces tariffs – in worst day for indexes since COVID
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
As it happened: Worst week’s trading in five years
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
Read more: What’s a bear market?
Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indian and Israeli representatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
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Do Trump’s tariffs add up?
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Markets gave Trump a clear no-confidence vote
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China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
World
Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem
South Korea’s constitutional court has confirmed the dismissal of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December after declaring martial law.
His decision to send troops onto the streets led to the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Read more from Sky News:
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The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.
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