The European Space Agency’s (ESA) first mission to Jupiter is expected to launch today after a 24-hour delay due to weather conditions at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, ESA said in a statement. Speaking to CNA about the mission, Dr Marcello Coradini, former Head of Solar System Exploration of ESA and “father” of the mission, said that the mission JUICE (the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission) will provide valuable insights and has the potential to answer some of the most fundamental questions about the origins of life in our solar system and beyond. Dr Coradini who is currently the Chair of the Council of the Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation (CSEO), told CNA that “the JUICE mission is of particular importance and I am thrilled to be a part of it,’ adding that ‘it is one of the most ambitious and challenging space missions ever attempted and its scientific potential is enormous.’ He explained that the mission will provide valuable insights and has the potential to answer some of the most fundamental questions about the origins of life in our solar system and beyond. “Europa and Ganymede are particularly exciting targets for us as they have vast oceans of water that could provide an environment suitable for life” he stressed. Meanwhile, speaking about the mission, CSEO President George Danos said that “the JUICE mission is a crucial step in the search for microbial alien life in our solar system and the understanding of the formation and evolution of Jupiter’s system’. He added that Dr. Marcello Coradini’s presence in Cyprus during the launch and his contributions to the development of CSEO have been instrumental in bringing important space projects to Cyprus. ‘The mission’s focus of exploring the icy moons of Jupiter, Ganymede and Europa makes it a unique and significant mission that may answer one of the most fundamental questions of humanity whether there are other life forms out there”, Danos told CNA. The JUICE mission is particularly important and is the first of its kind as it aims to search for hints of life on Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, the three icy moons of Jupiter. These moons have vast oceans of water under their icy surfaces, believed to have existed for billions of years. These oceans are of great interest to astrobiologists because they may provide a suitable environment for life to exist. The mission will use a suite of scientific instruments to study the geology, subsurface structure, composition, and atmosphere of the three moons, which may help in defining a new habitability zone in the outer solar system, as well as in the understanding of the early history of our solar system. JUICE will take an eight-year interplanetary cruise to the Jupiter system via various gravity assists around Earth and Venus before arriving in the Jovian system in July 2031. It is the last large-class mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme and one of the most ambitious missions to the outer solar system ever attempted.
Source: Cyprus News Agency