Juice lifted ready to meet Ariane 5
After its arrival in the final assembly building, on 1 April ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) was slowly lifted from the air cushion platform on which it sat during its transfer to the building. Following this process, it was lifted over 50 metres into the air, and then carefully lowered onto the top of the Ariane 5 rocket that will carry it into space.
This whole operation was performed under strict safety and cleanliness regulations to keep Juice in prime condition for launch on 13 April. The operators wore bright yellow suits; these are used whenever hazardous operations are carried out, for example when a spacecraft is moved.
Juice is being prepared to launch from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. After an eight-year journey to Jupiter, the mission will make detailed observations of the gas giant 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.
