(Finance) – A Ariane 5 launcher managed by Arianespace is successfully took off from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, carrying the space probe JUICE of the European Space Agency (ESA). The probe, built by Airbus Defense and Space for the European Space Agency (ESA), is the first European mission to explore the Jupiter system. He will spend at least three years observing in detail three of its icy moons, which he will reach starting in July 2031: Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
“It is an honor for Arianespace to have carried out this iconic launch, the first European mission to the Jupiter system, and to be able to contribute to improve our understanding of the solar system and the conditions necessary for the formation of life”, commented Stéphane Israel, CEO of Arianespace.
After this mission, there will only be one Ariane 5 left to launch, before Ariane 6 takes over for European institutional missions and the rapidly growing needs of the commercial market. The Ariane 5 heavy launcher is an ESA programme, implemented in collaboration by industry and public institutions from 12 European partner states.
ArianeGroup is the industrial prime contractor for the development and production of Ariane 5 and is responsible for preparing the launcher for take-off. As the industrial prime contractor for the development and production of Ariane 5, ArianeGroup leads a network of over 600 companiesincluding 350 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Among these, it has a leading role Airplanewhich contributed to the success of Ariane 5 flight VA 260 via i two boosters solid-propellant P230, which provide approximately 90% of the rocket’s lift-off thrust, and two turbopumps for the liquid oxygen of the Vulcain engine. The turbopump is the first to be entirely produced with the new supply chain and integrated in the Colleferro plants.
“We are proud to have contributed to this important European science mission and to the Ariane program as a whole,” he commented Giulio RanzoCEO of Avio – With Vega C and Ariane 6, Europe will continue to have a independent access to the space deep in the near future”.
Satisfied comments also from the Italian government. “We have proudly followed the launch of the European Space Agency’s Juice mission, to which Italy participates with a leading role“, he said Valentino Valentini, deputy minister of companies and Made in Italy, underlining that “many fundamental components – he recalls – are made by the Leonardo group, in collaboration, among others, with the National Institute of Astrophysics, with the University of Trento and with La Sapienza University of Rome in a winning synergy between some of our excellences”.
The minister for companies and Made in Italy, Adolfo Ursospoke of “a significant week for the Italian Space“. “After the presentation two days ago of the Iride project, the constellation of satellites for Earth observation, today the Juice probe left for Jupiter and its moons”, he recalled, expressing “great satisfaction and deep pride for the country’s space system, which is crucial for the success of the mission launched with today’s launch”.