Ariane 5’s legacy of launching science missions

ESA’s Ariane 5, manufactured by ArianeGroup, has been in operation since 1996 and has already completed more than 100 launches from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. It is 53 m high and 5.4 m in diameter with a liftoff mass of 780 tonnes.

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) will be the last ESA mission to launch on an Ariane 5 before Ariane 6 takes over. Juice is due to launch in April 2023 on an Ariane 5 with a special piece of artwork on its nose (fairing) – this drawing was the winning entry to the ‘JUICE Up Your Rocket!’ competition, which invited children from all over the world to create a work of art related to Juice.

Juice will make detailed observations of Jupiter and its three large ocean-bearing moons – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa – with a suite of instruments. The mission will characterise these moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats, explore Jupiter’s complex environment in depth, and study the wider Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants across the Universe.