Published on : 13/04/2023 – 14:06Modified : 13/04/2023 – 15:03

The launch of the European space probe Juice to Jupiter, scheduled for Thursday April 13 aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, has been postponed until Friday due to bad weather conditions, Arianespace announced.

The takeoff, scheduled for 12:45 GMT from the European spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana, was postponed due to a “weather red”, namely the risk of lightning.

The next attempt will take place in 24 hours, at the same time to within 30 seconds, the European Space Agency (ESA) said.

The postponement was announced just minutes before the final count, from the Jupiter control room where several personalities were gathered, including the King of the Belgians Philippe and the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

A few kilometers away, the Ariane 5 launcher, which will be the penultimate flight, is installed on its launch pad, ready to propel itself with the six-tonne probe loaded in its fairing.

In search of extraterrestrial life forms

ESA’s flagship mission, Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) is to explore Jupiter and its icy moons, in search of habitable environments for extraterrestrial life forms. The voyage is planned to last eight years.

This is the first time that space Europe has soared to a planet in the outer solar system, which begins following Mars.

The launch of Juice, at a cost of 1.6 billion euros, comes in the midst of a launcher crisis for Europe, which is almost deprived of autonomous access to space following the departure of Russian Soyuz rockets from Kourou, cumulative delays of Ariane 6 and the failure of the first commercial flight of Vega C.

Flagship mission of the European Space Agency (ESA), Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons explorer) will be the penultimate flight of Ariane 5 before being replaced by Ariane 6.

With AFP