Ganymede – Spaceflight Now

Europe launches spacecraft on eight-year journey to explore Jupiter’s moons

April 14, 2023 Stephen Clark

An Ariane 5 rocket took off from French Guiana Friday with the heaviest interplanetary science probe ever launched, kicking off a $1.7 billion European Space Agency mission on a decade-long quest to Jupiter’s icy moons in search of environments that could be habitable for life.

Lightning threat delays launch of Europe’s first mission to Jupiter

April 13, 2023 Stephen Clark

The liftoff of Europe’s first mission to Jupiter aboard an Ariane 5 rocket was scrubbed Thursday in French Guiana due to a high risk of lightning at the launch site, delaying until Friday the start of the JUICE spacecraft’s voyage of exploration.

Live coverage: Ariane 5 rocket launches Europe’s first mission to Jupiter

April 13, 2023 Stephen Clark

After the threat of lightning kept the mission on the ground Thursday, Arianespace and the European Space Agency successfully launched an Ariane 5 rocket Friday from Kourou, French Guiana, with the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission, a robotic spacecraft embarking on an eight-year journey to the solar system’s largest planet. Liftoff with ESA’s JUICE spacecraft occurred at 8:14 a.m. EDT (1214 UTC).

JUICE’s launch campaign in imagery

April 12, 2023 Stephen Clark

These photos and a time lapse video from the European Space Agency chronicle the final preparations for launch of the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or JUICE, spacecraft from the Guiana Space Center on the second-to-last Ariane 5 rocket.

Europe’s first mission to Jupiter poised for launch from South America

April 12, 2023 Stephen Clark

The European Space Agency’s $1.7 billion robotic Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission is ready for liftoff Thursday from French Guiana, beginning an eight-year cruise to the solar system’s largest planet before becoming the first-ever spacecraft to orbit one of Jupiter’s moons in the 2030s.

NASA mission extension enables first flybys of Jupiter’s moons in 20 years

January 11, 2021 Stephen Clark

In a pair of mission extensions, NASA has cleared the way for more seismic observations on Mars with the robotic InSight lander and approved plans for the Juno spacecraft to alter its orbit and perform close flybys of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, Ganymede, and the volcanic moon Io.

Juno team planning close flybys of Jupiter’s moons

October 12, 2020 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Juno spacecraft could perform the first close flybys since the early 2000s of three of Jupiter’s largest moons, including Europa, if the space agency grants the mission an extension, Juno’s lead scientist said recently.

Scientists optimistic planetary probes won’t face coronavirus launch delays

April 29, 2020 Stephen Clark

Launches of interplanetary missions can only depart Earth when the positions of the planets are just right, and officials managing the development of probes set for launch in 2021 and 2022 to explore asteroids and Jupiter says construction milestones and reviews are proceeding to keep the projects on schedule despite the coronavirus pandemic.

ESA books launch of Jupiter orbiter with Arianespace

June 19, 2019 Stephen Clark

The European Space Agency has reserved an Ariane launcher to send a spacecraft toward Jupiter in May 2022, and the mission’s project manager said Tuesday officials could assign the probe to Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket, assuming the vehicle has a successful debut by the end of 2020.

See Jupiter’s Galilean moons in motion from Juno’s camera

July 5, 2016 Stephen Clark

Juno’s visible camera had a bird’s-eye view of Jupiter’s four largest moons over the last few weeks, recording the satellites in their orbital ballet around the giant planet as the spacecraft approached from above Jupiter’s north pole.