French Guiana launches Ariane 5 rocket with Jupiter probe
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The Ariane 5 launch vehicle with the European space probe JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons explorer) was launched from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. The probe is designed to study Jupiter and its three largest moons – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. The launch is broadcast by Arianespace on its YouTube channel.
JUICE carries ten scientific instruments, a 2.5 m antenna and 85 sq. m. One of its instruments, the SWI microwave spectrometer, was developed by Russian and German scientists to study the properties of the atmosphere of Jupiter and its satellites.
The probe is expected to separate from the carrier 27 minutes after launch at an altitude of 1.5 thousand km. It will arrive at Jupiter in the summer of 2031. It will take him about three years to study Jupiter. To Jupiter, JUICE will fly in a “detour”, using the gravity of the Earth and Venus to accelerate. This will allow the probe’s solar panels to store energy for a long mission.
The European Space Agency began developing JUICE in May 2012. The project budget amounted to €1.6 billion. At the initial stage of development, Roscosmos participated in the project, but after a while it left the project due to technical problems.
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