The journey to Jupiter has begun. The European Space Agency’s unmanned spacecraft JUICE (short for JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) launched Thursday from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. JUICE’s voyage, the ESA’s most ambitious mission to date, will be particularly lengthy: Upon reaching Jupiter’s orbit by 2031, it will embark on a four-year mission to investigate three of Jupiter’s moons – Callisto, Europa and Ganymede – as well as the composition of Jupiter’s atmosphere.

“This is not our first involvement in international space missions, but the fact that this is a completely Israeli creation makes it very special for us,” Kaspi says. The Weizmann team began working on the project back in 2013, when the ESA announced the mission. “When I first approached the Israel Space Agency with the idea of building the oscillator, this seemed an impossible task, but the commitment of the agency and the synergy of industry and academia made this happen,” he adds.

Says Uri Oron, director of the Israel Space Agency at the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology: “The Israel Space Agency is proud to be taking part in the European Space Agency's flagship mission, both in terms of its engineering and technology, and in terms of its research. Without doubt, the research to be conducted at the Weizmann Institute will constitute a key component in the mission's research program, and will continue to advance space research in Israel and position it among the global leaders in the field.”

Source: INN