Billion euro ESA mission to explore icy worlds of Jupiter

The European Space Agency (ESA) has approved a new mission, which includes scientists from UCL, to explore Jupiter and the habitability of its icy moons. Announced on 2 May 2012, at a meeting in Paris, ESA's Science Program Committee voted to go ahead with the project, the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), the first European-led mission to the outer solar system, and the first spacecraft destined to orbit an icy moon. The JUICE spacecraft is scheduled to launch in 2022, arriving in the Jupiter system in 2030. It will cost ESA c.830m euros (£695m; $1.1bn) and once the cost of the instruments aboard the spacecraft is factored in the total price of the mission will exceed one billion euros. Professor Andrew Coates of UCL, a member of the ESA Science Study Team, said: "Studying these watery worlds is the next vital step beyond Mars in the search for the conditions for life in our solar system. Ganymede's unique magnetic shield helps protect it somewhat from Jupiter's harsh radiation belts and rapidly rotating magnetosphere, and we want to understand its effectiveness. Europa and Callisto provide key comparisons as we search for the solar system's 'sweet spots' for habitability." UK researchers have been deeply involved in the leadership and planning for JUICE and have played a vital role in gaining approval for the mission ahead of rival bids.