French aerospace company and airframe manufacturer Airbus is shipping its JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer mission) spacecraft from its headquarters in Toulouse to French Guiana.
The spacecraft has been at Airbus in Toulouse since August 2021 for final assembly and test ahead of lift-off, which is scheduled for April 2023.
“With JUICE's departure for the launch site fast approaching, we look back at its long earthly journey through various Airbus sites in Europe towards final integration and involving close to 500 Airbus employees who prepared the spacecraft for its eight-year cruise,” said Cyril Cavel, JUICE project manager at Airbus Defence and Space.
Giving some details of the the two-billion-kilometre journey and mission, Airbus said that the 6.2 ton JUICE spacecraft "will collect data on the icy moons [of Jupiter] to try to understand whether there is any possibility that these moons could host microbial life".