The launch of the European space probe Juice to Jupiter, scheduled for Thursday, April 13 aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, will take place Friday, April 14, announced Arianespace.
Liftoff is scheduled for 12:45 GMT from the European spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana.
A few kilometers away, the Ariane 5 launcher, which will be the penultimate flight, is installed on its launch pad, ready to propel itself with the six-ton probe loaded in its fairing.
In search of alien life forms
ESA's flagship mission, Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) is set to explore Jupiter and its icy moons, in search of habitable environments for extraterrestrial life forms. The trip is planned to last eight years.
This is the first time that space Europe has launched towards a planet in the outer solar system, which begins after Mars.
The launch of Juice, costing 1.6 billion euros, comes in the midst of the launcher crisis for Europe, virtually deprived of autonomous access to space after the departure of Russian Soyuz rockets from Kourou, the cumulative delays of Ariane 6 and the failure of the first commercial flight of Vega C.
The flagship mission of the European Space Agency (ESA), Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons explorer) will be the penultimate flight of Ariane 5 before being replaced by Ariane 6.
With AFP
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