Last stop on Earth at Airbus before odyssey to Jupiter for JUICE

After three months of intense activities for thermal vacuum testing in the Large Space Simulator (LSS) chamber at the ESA test centre at ESTEC in Noordwijk, Netherlands, JUICE is back at Airbus, the prime contractor. Unusually, it was transported by air to Toulouse, to save time so that it remains on track to meet the tight interplanetary schedule to reach the Jovian system.

Cyril Cavel, JUICE project Manager at Airbus said on arrival: “It’s the first time I have seen a satellite arriving in Toulouse by plane, which shows the importance of this mission for ESA and the scientific community. Now we at Airbus have to build on the great work of all of our industrial and scientific partners. I can’t wait for this ambitious mission to launch and to see the tremendous progress to human knowledge it will bring – even though we will have to wait almost 10 years, before it arrives at Jupiter!”