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Rotating Juice in the clean room at ESA's technical heart in the Netherlands before transfer in the Large Space Simulator.

Juice will undergo environmental testing in ESTEC’s Large Space Simulator to replicate the extreme heating and cooling cycles that the spacecraft will experience on its way to Jupiter.

Once in the Jovian system the mission will spend at least three years making detailed observations of the giant gaseous planet Jupiter and its three large ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.

With ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet in space for his first full month, let’s look at what he has been doing on the International Space Station in May.

A detailed concept for a lunar habitat, created by one of the world’s leading architectural firms with ESA technical support, is currently on show at the Biennale in Venice. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, originator of many of the world’s tallest skyscrapers, worked with ESA on a semi-inflatable habitat design which could be part of a long-term vision for an international Moon settlement.

Week in images: 31 May - 04 June 2021

Discover our week through the lens

The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Warsaw – the capital and largest city of Poland.

New York (AFP) June 3, 2021
United Airlines announced plans Thursday to buy 15 planes from airline startup Boom Supersonic in a move that could revive the high-speed form of air travel after the Concorde was wound down in 2003. Under the deal, United would purchase Boom's "Overture" aircraft once the planes meet "United's demanding safety, operating and sustainability requirements" with an aim to start passenger travel

Washington (AFP) June 4, 2021
There is no evidence that unexplained aerial phenomena spotted in recent years by US military personnel are aliens, an upcoming government report quoted by The New York Times Thursday said, but officials still can't explain the mysterious aircraft. The newspaper, which cited senior administration officials briefed on the findings of the highly anticipated report, said they were able to confi

Washington (AFP) June 3, 2021
A SpaceX rocket took off Thursday for the International Space Station carrying supplies for scientific experiments, including some surprising passengers - squids and virtually indestructible microorganisms called tardigrades. The rocket, leased by NASA, launched from Florida at 1:29 pm local time (1729 GMT). The Dragon capsule detached from the Falcon 9 rocket about 12 minutes after take-of

Xichang, China (XNA) Jun 04, 2021
China sent a new meteorological satellite into planned orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province on Thursday morning. The satellite, Fengyun-4B (FY-4B), was launched by a Long March-3B rocket at 12:17 a.m. (Beijing Time). It was the 372nd flight mission of the Long March rocket series, said the launch center. As the first of China's new-generation meteorologi

Luxembourg (SPX) Jun 04, 2021
Kleos Space S.A, a space-powered Radio Frequency Reconnaissance data-as-a- service (DaaS) company confirms the successful dispatch of its cluster of four Polar Vigilance Mission satellites (KSF1) from Delft in the Netherlands to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Under a rideshare contract with Spaceflight Inc., the satellites will lift-off aboard the Spaceflight SXRS-5 / SpaceX Transport