Jupiter’s icy moons

ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) will spend more than four years in the jovian system exploring the gas giant Jupiter, its space environment, and its intriguing satellites. Juice will pay particular attention to three of Jupiter’s ‘Galilean moons’: Europa, Callisto and most especially Ganymede.

These three moons are thought to harbour hidden oceans beneath their surfaces, making them prime targets in our exploration of whether, how and where life could arise in different environments across the cosmos. Juice’s tour of Jupiter will include multiple flybys of these ocean-bearing moons, before culminating in orbit insertion around Ganymede – the first time a spacecraft will have orbited a moon in the outer Solar System.

By investigating Ganymede, Europa and Callisto as a trio, Juice will paint a comparative picture of the environments of each and shed light on their properties and potential habitability.

Find out more about Juice’s exploration of Jupiter’s icy moons in our dedicated article.