JUICE is fundamentally a moon mission
JUICE, short for JUpiter ICy moons Explorer, is headed for Jupiter, but the spacecraft will focus its observations on three of the gas giant’s many moons: Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, hosts more than 70 natural satellites, but these three Galilean moons are thought to hold immense amounts of subsurface water hidden beneath thick layers of ice (Io is the fourth Galilean moon, but it’s an inhospitable volcanic hellhole). JUICE, an international collaboration headed by the European Space Agency, will spend three to four years at Jupiter, performing flybys and making detailed observations of the three icy moons and their immediate surroundings.
