ESA gearing up for mission to discover if Jupiter’s moons can support life

The spacecraft is about to embark on a 6.6 billion km journey spanning more than eight years.

An artist’s impression of Juice being released into space (ATG Medialab/ESA)

A European spacecraft is about to embark on a 6.6 billion km journey to explore whether Jupiter’s ocean-bearing moons can support life.

The six-tonne probe, named Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer), will be heading towards the solar system’s biggest planet carrying 10 scientific instruments, in what is the European Space Agency’s (ESA) biggest deep-space mission yet.

Scientists in the UK have led the development of one instrument known as the magnetometer, which will help shed light on how Jupiter’s icy moons formed.