ESA Selects Jupiter Probe Mission

[Naemeth]

Apologies if the official annoucement has already been posted..

"The European Space Agency (Esa) is to mount a billion-euro mission to Jupiter and its icy moons. The probe, called Juice, has just been approved at a meeting of member state delegations in Paris.

It would be built in time for a launch in 2022, although it would be a further eight years before it reached the Jovian system.

The mission has emerged from a five-year-long competition to find the next "large class" space venture in Europe.

Juice stands for JUpiter ICy moon Explorer. The concept proposes an instrument-packed, nearly five-tonne satellite to be sent out to the Solar System's biggest planet, to make a careful investigation of three of its biggest moons.

The spacecraft would use the gravity of Jupiter to initiate a series of close fly-bys around Callisto and Europa, and then finally to put itself in a settled orbit around Ganymede.

Emphasis would be put on "habitability" - in trying to understand whether there is any possibility that these moons could host microbial life.

Callisto, Europa and Ganymede are all suspected to have oceans of water below their icy surfaces. As such, they may have environments conducive to simple biology."

For more follow this link.

[earth titan]

Cool. Hope it is as succesful as Cassini, which was the last big ESA planetary expedition.

[Shibby]

Excellent, a good choice I think. One day an ice drilling mission will be sent, but we'll have to wait a long time for that!

Cool. Hope it is as succesful as Cassini, which was the last big ESA planetary expedition.

Huygens was ESA, I believe Cassini is mostly NASA. Incredibly successful, though, yes!