大象传媒

The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission - better known as Juice - is on an eight-year quest seeking alien life on Jupiter's icy moons. Its 6.6 billion km journey is due to begin with a launch from French Guiana. 大象传媒 Newsday asked Dr Gaitee Hussain 鈥� the Head of the Science Division at the European Space Agency based at the Operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany 鈥� if she is excited.

鈥淭his is the culmination of 20 years work bringing together scientists and engineers from all over Europe and well beyond to answer a fundamental question about our solar system. A particular focus of the mission is on what we call the icy moons around Jupiter. We think, based on previous spacecraft鈥�[they] have vast oceans鈥� liquid water oceans鈥� where life could potentially be hosted.鈥�

(Pic: Artist鈥檚 impression issued by European Space Agency (ESA) of Juice being released into space; Credit: EPA)