Lightning risk delays mission to find life on Jupiter's moons

New Delhi: A lightning risk has delayed the launch of the European Space Agency’s mission to look for life on Jupiter’s moons.

According to reports, the mission could now be launched tomorrow at 1.14 p.m. It was planned for French Guiana to launch today at 1.15 p.m.

Three of the moons of the gas giant, Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa, will be reached by the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission, or JUICE for short.

The spacecraft will blast out from the ESA’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, riding an Ariane 5 rocket into space.

“We are going to halt the launch operations for now, for today due to weather conditions,” a spokesperson said on its livestream of the launch.

“We do not take any risks when it comes to launching a satellite into space.”

The mission seeks to examine the liquid seas that are concealed beneath the icy exteriors of the moons and were discovered by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft in 1995 using a magnetometer developed by a British team.

Professor Michelle Dougherty, the lead researcher for the magnetometer aboard JUICE in a statement said that he and his teams were almost certain that at least three of the moons have good liquid water oceans beneath the surface.

“The first component you’re looking for when searching for environments in our solar system where life can form is liquid water,” he said.

“We believe that the first three ingredients necessary for the emergence of life are liquid water, heat, and organic material. Something might be able to happen if those are stable enough for a long enough period of time,” he continued.

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