The project will start in 2022 with the launch of the spaceport in French Guiana European launcher Ariane-5 with a research station on board. Besides studying Jupiter program includes a closer acquaintance with its three satellites: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.
According to reports, the surface is covered with ice, with Ganymede and Europe assumes the existence of the ocean under the ice. And, as you know, where the water is, there is life. If the hypothesis of the existence of water supplies is confirmed, it will be a significant step towards the conquest of space and the creation of the first ever autonomous space base.
ESA Head of Department of Research Alvaro Giménez Cañete has high hopes for the study of Jupiter. "Jupiter is the archetype for all the giant planets of the solar system, and for many of the planets discovered around other stars. JUICE will help us to better understand the structure of the gas giants, and the presence in it of habitat for organisms," - he said.
Competition space projects planned for launch, ESA announced in 2007. At the finish line JUICE mission competed with two space projects - a program to search for gravitational waves NGO Space Telescope and construction of ATHENA. The choice in favor of the mission to study near-Earth space, scientists explained by the fact that this project will bring humanity to the answer to the eternal questions: How is the solar system? What are the fundamental laws of the universe? Are there in our time the conditions for planet formation and the emergence of life on them?
Previously reported that the study of Jupiter will be connected and Russian scientists. A month ago, ESA voiced preliminary plans for the project, "Laplace" in the mission JUICE, however, was not yet clear that all development on Jupiter will be the main aim of the exercise for the next decade.
The main contribution of the Russian side in the project is to create a machine that will land on the surface of Ganymede. It is planned that the landing probe will not start with the Ariane-5, but with the help of Russian rocket "Proton". After landing, the probe will have to find evidence of the existence of the ocean, to determine the thickness of the ice cover, to assess seismic activity, analyze the composition of ice and mineral impurities.
Project Name JUICE (Jupiter Icy moons Explorer) stands for "the researcher icy moons of Jupiter." Estimated cost JUICE experts estimated total of € 850 million, largely due to the fact that all the equipment of the project, including probes and measuring the thickness of ice, Europa and Ganymede, are not included in this amount shall be made supplying countries at their expense .
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