Story by
Siôn Geschwindt
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission — ‘Juice’ — is ready to embark on its journey to the solar system’s largest planet.
Juice is scheduled to launch today, April 14, at 14:14 CEST (13:15 BST) from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
The launch was supposed to take place yesterday but was postponed due to poor weather conditions.
Juice will make the 8-year, 6.6 billion km trip to study three of Jupiter’s moons: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. Each of these worlds has an ocean of water hidden underneath an icy shell — an important target for astronomers searching for life beyond Earth.
ESA will stream the launch live on its website and on its YouTube channel which you can view below. French viewers can access ESA’s Web TV Two.