The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
When ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer’s (Juice) flew by Earth on 20 August 2024, it’s MAJIS instrument collected information in molecules in the atmosphere.
By collecting light coming from Earth, and seeing which wavelengths of light were reduced, MAJIS could tell which molecules were in between the planet and the instrument, absorbing the light.
MAJIS stands for Moons and Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer. Once at Jupiter, MAJIS will observe Jupiter’s clouds and the ingredients in its atmosphere. It will also investigate the atmospheres of Jupiter’s icy moons as well as ices and minerals on their surfaces.
Its measurements at Earth are helping prepare the instrument for maximum science at Jupiter. They also give a taste of what MAJIS can do in terms of identifying different molecules in an atmosphere.
[Image description: Two graphs, plotting radiance against wavelength. Each graph has a wiggly horizontal line with peaks and troughs. The main troughs are indicated with the names of molecules that MAJIS found in Earth’s atmosphere.]