14 DAY TRIAL // Officials at the European Space Agency (ESA) recently announced that they have selected the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) mission for further development. This spacecraft is the first to be selected under the new Cosmic Vision Program.
Currently scheduled to launch in 2022, the spacecraft would spend about 7.6 years on the road, and another 3.5 years studying Jupiter, its rings and its icy moons. The broader goal of the mission is to assess the habitability of tiny worlds around gas giants, with Jupiter as an example.
After flying by Callisto and Europa, the orbiter will settle in orbit around Ganymede. It will carry science cameras, a laser altimeter, radars that can see through use, a particle analyzer, a magnetometer, and sub-millimeter, radio and plasma wave instruments, Daily Galaxy reports.
The only milestone that remains to be conquered before work on the actual spacecraft begins is getting the approval of the ESA Science Program Committee, during a meeting scheduled for this May.