Missions to Jupiter

Overview of ESA and NASA missions that have visited or will visit Jupiter.

On the left of the timeline are spacecraft designed to orbit the gas giant, with the stated date range from arrival at Jupiter to end of mission. On the right of the timeline are spacecraft that have flown by Jupiter on their way to the more distant reaches of the Solar System; the stated dates show the year that the spacecraft flew past the gas giant.

ESA’s upcoming Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission will launch in April 2023 to make detailed observations of the giant gas planet and its three large ocean-bearing moons – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa – with a suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments. Juice 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.

The first person to view Jupiter and its largest moons through a telescope was Galileo Galilei in 1609. Over 400 years later and humanity’s ever-long desire to look up and explore worlds beyond our own lives on; Juice will carry a commemorative plaque, as a tribute to the Italian astronomer.