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
UN’s Antonio Guterres condemns ‘teaspoon’ of aid allowed into Gaza after dozens die in airstrikes
The head of the UN has said Israel has only authorised for Gaza what amounts to a “teaspoon” of aid after at least 60 people died in overnight airstrikes.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said on Friday the supplies approved so far “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required,” adding “the needs are massive and the obstacles are staggering”.
He warned that more people will die unless there is “rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access”.
A woman at the site of an Israeli strike in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
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Gaza: ‘Loads of children with huge burns’
Israel says around 300 aid trucks have been allowed through since it lifted an 11-week blockade on Monday, but according to Mr Guterres, only about a third have been transported to warehouses within Gaza due to insecurity.
The IDF said 107 vehicles carrying flour, food, medical equipment and drugs were allowed through on Thursday.
Many of Gaza’s two million residents are at high risk of famine, experts have warned.
Meanwhile, at least 60 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza overnight.
Ten people died in the southern city of Khan Younis, and deaths were also reported in the central town of Deir al-Balah and the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals where the bodies were brought.
A body is carried out of rubble after an Israeli strike in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
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‘Almost everyone depends on aid’ in Gaza
The latest strikes came a day after two Israeli embassy workers were killed in Washington.
The suspect, named as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, Illinois, told police he “did it for Gaza”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of fuelling antisemitism following the shootings.
The leaders of the UK, France and Canada are “on the wrong side of humanity and (…) history”, he said, after they threatened “concrete action” against Israel this week if it continues its “egregious” military operations in Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu also accused Sir Keir, Mr Macron and Mr Carney of siding with “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers”.
Palestinians search for casualties in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
But UK government minister Luke Pollard told Sky News on Friday morning he “doesn’t recognise” Mr Netanyahu’s accusation.
Earlier this week, Mr Netanyahu said he was recalling negotiators from the Qatari capital, Doha, after a week of ceasefire talks failed to bring results. A working team will remain.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251 others.
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The militants are still holding 58 captives, around a third of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s offensive, which has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
A woman has been arrested after 12 people were reportedly injured in a stabbing at Hamburg’s central train station in Germany.
An attacker armed with a knife targeted people on the platform between tracks 13 and 14, according to police.
They added that the suspect was a 39-year-old woman.
Police at the scene. Pic: AP
Officers said they “believe she acted alone” and investigations into the stabbing are continuing.
There was no immediate information on a possible motive.
The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.
The attack happened shortly after 6pm local time (5pm UK time) on Friday in front of a waiting train, regional public broadcaster NDR reported.
A high-speed ICE train with its doors open could be seen at the platform after the incident.
Railway operator Deutsche Bahn said it was “deeply shocked” by what had happened.
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Four tracks at the station were closed in the evening, and some long-distance trains were delayed or diverted.
Hamburg is Germany‘s second biggest city, with the train station being a hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.
In mid-May, the World Health Organisation assessed that there were “nearly half a million people in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death”.
“This is one of the world’s worst hunger crises, unfolding in real time,” its report concluded.
Warning: This article contains images of an emaciated child which some readers may find distressing
Israel‘s decision this week to reverse the siege and allow “a basic level of aid” into Gaza should help ease the immediate crisis.
But the number of aid trucks getting in, so far fewer than 100 per day, is considered dramatically too few by aid organisations working in Gaza, and the United Nations accuses Israel of continuing to block vital items.
Israel-Gaza latest: Gaza enduring ‘atrocious death and destruction’, UN boss warns
“Strict quotas are being imposed on the goods we distribute, along with unnecessary delay procedures,” said UN secretary general Antonio Guterres in New York on Friday.
“Essentials, including fuel, shelter, cooking gas and water purification supplies, are prohibited. Nothing has reached the besieged north.”
Nineteen of Gaza’s hospitals remain operational, all of them are overwhelmed with the number of patients and a lack of supplies.
Baby Aya at Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza is dangerously thin
“Today, we receive between 300 to 500 cases daily, with approximately 10% requiring admission. This volume of inpatient cases far exceeds the capacity of Rantisi hospital, as the facility is not equipped to accommodate such large numbers,” Jall al Barawi, a doctor at the hospital, told us.
At least 94% of the hospitals have sustained some damage, some considerable, according to the UN.
Jall al Barawi, a doctor at Rantisi hospital
Paramedic crews are close to running out of fuel to drive ambulances.
The lack of food, after an 11-week blockade, has left thousands malnourished and increasingly vulnerable to surviving injuries or recovering from other conditions.
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Children are the worst affected.
Our team in Gaza filmed with baby Aya at the Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza. She is now three months old and dangerously thin.
Her skin stretches over her cheekbones and eye sockets on her gaunt, pale face. Her nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.
Aya’s nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.
Lethal spiral
Her mother Sundush, who is only 19 herself, cannot get enough food to produce breastmilk. Baby formula is scarce.
Aya, like so many other young children, cannot get the vital nutrition she needs to grow and develop.
It’s a lethal spiral.
This is what Aya looked like shortly after she was born
“My daughter was born at a normal weight, 3.5kg,” Sundush tells us.
“But as the war went on, her weight dropped significantly. I would breastfeed her, she’d get diarrhoea. I tried formula – same result. With the borders closed and no food coming in, I can’t eat enough to give her the nutrients she needs.”
“I brought her to the hospital for treatment, but the care she needs isn’t available.
“The doctor said her condition is very serious. I really don’t want to lose her, because I lost my husband and she’s all I have left of him. I don’t want to lose her.”
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Aya and her mother Sundush
Some of the aid entering Gaza now is being looted. It is hard to know whether that is by Hamas or desperate civilians. Maybe a combination of the two.
The lack of aid creates an atmosphere of desperation, which eventually leads to a breakdown in security as everyone fights to secure food for themselves and their families.
Only by alleviating the desperation can the security situation improve, and the risk of famine abate.
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