This is a large scale mission for the exploration of Jupiter’s icy moons being led by ESA (the European Space Agency) and is among the largest international outer solar system probes in history. European countries, Japan, and the US will all be part of the mission. The probe aims to explore the possibilities of life in space and the origins of Jupiter.

Galileo Galilei pointed his telescope at Jupiter 400 years ago and discovered 4 celestial bodies circling Jupiter. The discovery of Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, which are now known as the Galilean moons of Jupiter, helped usher in the major shift from Ptolemaic theory to Copernican theory.
The JUICE probe (or Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) which will orbit Ganymede is a large scale mission for the study of Jupiter’s icy moons being led by ESA (the European Space Agency) and is one of the largest international outer solar system explorer missions in history, aimed at exploring the possibilities of life in space and the origins of Jupiter.

Jupiter, the aim of the JUICE mission, is the largest planet in the solar system and holds the key to understanding how the solar system was formed. By examining the Galilean moons where there are records of how and where Jupiter formed, the researchers can obtain clues as to the origin of our solar system and the extrasolar planetary systems which continue to be discovered outside the solar system.

The final stage of the JUICE mission will be to orbit Ganymede. Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system and is the only moon in the solar system to have its own magnetic field like the Earth. Additionally, recent research has revealed that there is a possibility of liquid oceans under the surface of Ganymede and Europa. There may be an environment at the bottom of these oceans that nurtures life such the thermal vents at the bottom of the Earth’s oceans.

Name	JUICE (JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer)