Europe’s spaceport: an ideal launch site

Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, is the ideal launch site for an extraordinary mission such as ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice).

Because the Spaceport is located near the equator, launch vehicles gain extra performance thanks to a ‘slingshot effect’ due to the speed of Earth’s rotation. An open ocean towards the north and east offers a launch trajectory away from populated areas. In addition, this region has no risk of cyclones or earthquakes.

ESA owns the Ariane 5 launch complex and works closely with its partners: the French space agency CNES, which operates and maintains the spaceport; Arianespace, providing the launch service; and ArianeGroup and other industrial partners for launch vehicle assembly and launch operations.

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.