The launch of the JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) space probe, originally scheduled for Thursday, has been postponed. The reason for the launch event at the Institute for Space Research (IWF) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) was adverse weather conditions.
The flagship mission of the European Space Agency ESA was scheduled to take off at 2.15 pm from the ESA spaceport in Kourou in French Guiana with an “Ariane 5” rocket. The new start is now scheduled for Friday at 2:14 PM.
About 150 scientists and guests came to the Institute for Space Research in Graz – St.Peter. “There is always a residual risk, the weather is changeable,” said IMF researcher Werner Magnes after the end of the countdown was announced via a live stream at around 2:10 p.m. For the time being, no further details are known about the postponement of the start.
Launch window open until end of April
If the launch also fails on Friday or Saturday, the rocket must be pushed back into the hangar for the time being, according to Magnes. There is a launch window until April 30. “If that is not possible, it should be postponed to September,” says the researcher. A launch in September would delay arrival by a year and the planetary constellation would no longer be as favorable, Magnes explained.
Journey to Frost Moons takes eight years
The target of the “Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer” (JUICE) mission, which is expected to last until 2034, is the planet Jupiter with its icy moons. Europa, Callisto and Ganymede are the moons the researchers want to look at starting in 2031 after the probe’s eight-year journey. According to current knowledge, these satellites of Jupiter have seas under the ice. So there could be conditions for life.
Equipped with know-how from Austria
The space probe is also equipped with technology and know-how from Austria and especially from the Austrian Academy of Sciences: The Graz Institute for Space Research, among others, has developed a new type of quantum interference magnetometer together with the Graz University of Technology. The mission, worth more than a billion euros, is being piloted from the ESA control center in Darmstadt, Germany.
Source: Krone
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