Juice one step closer to launch
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After many years of study, development, building and testing, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, has finally arrived at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. At the end of 2022 the spacecraft underwent its final thermal vacuum test at an Airbus Defence and Space facility in Toulouse, as well as its final software verification tests, whereby it was controlled from the ESOC mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany.
Soon, an Ariane 5 will lift Juice into orbit and send it on its journey to explore the largest planet in our Solar System and its three icy moons, Europa,
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Planetary scientists have spent far more time studying Mars than they have other planets, partly due to its close proximity and partly due to the fact that Mars has a surface upon which craft can land. Planets that have thick atmospheres, on the other hand, are more difficult to study, especially if they provide no place to land.
Still, Mandt argues, such research is important. And initiating the development of a probe to study Uranus, she adds, would be a good start. She further notes that now would be a good time to begin such plans because the next good window for launching a Uranus probe would be in 2032, when Jupiter's alignment with Earth will allow a slingshot maneuver toward Uranus.
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The countdown had started. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency livestream and TV footage showed white smoke billowing from the H3's main engine.
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