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Juice launch 14/04/2023 ESA?s latest interplanetary mission, Juice, lifted off on an?Ariane 5 rocket?from?Europe?s Spaceport?in French 09:14 local time/14:14CEST on 14 April 2023 to begin its eight-year journey to Jupiter, where it will study in detail the gas giant planet?s three large ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Juice ? Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer ??is humankind?s next bold mission to the outer Solar System. This ambitious mission will?characterise Ganymede, Callisto and Europa with a powerful suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments to discover more about these compelling destinations as potential habitats for past or present life. Juice will monitor Jupiter?s complex magnetic, radiation and plasma environment in depth and its interplay with the moons, studying the Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giant systems across the Universe. Following launch, Juice will embark on an eight-year journey to Jupiter, arriving in July 2031 with the aid of momentum and direction gained from four gravity-assist fly-bys of the Earth-Moon system, Venus and, twice, Earth. Flight VA260 is the final Ariane 5 flight to carry an ESA mission to space.

Space

How the JUICE mission will look for habitability on Jupiter's moons

ESA’s JUICE mission will help us better understand whether Jupiter’s icy moons are habitable. But we need to be open to their unexpected secrets, says principal investigator Michele Dougherty

Features

Life

Invasive blue crabs are poised to devastate the global clam supply

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Underwater light, sun light shine under water with ripples on surface. Realistic sunlight under deep water with reflection, blue ocean or sea depth blue background; Shutterstock ID 1559777738; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Life

The delightfully bizarre creatures that live near deep-sea vents

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Angela Stevenson, 39, a marine scientist for GEOMAR, dives with a bunch of flowering seagrass she has collected, in Laboe, Germany July 10, 2023. The group of scientists collect seeds for research into planting the seeds and breeding a more heat resistant seagrass for the SeaStore Seagrass Restoration Project at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel.

Life

Photos capture mission to rescue seagrass meadows in the the Baltic

Regulars

Planting seagrass in Sardinia

Video

Project aims to grow one million seagrass plants in Mediterranean Sea

Video

A fantasy alien planet

Space

Aliens on low-oxygen worlds may never discover fire

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Life

Cuvier's beaked whale seen grieving dead calf for first time

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A grey wolf hunting pacific salmon

Life

Nearly a third of coastal wolves in Alaska are eating sea otters

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Life

The ancient trees that have lessons for the future

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A mitochondrion

Life

Ocean bacteria may be closest relatives of mitochondria in our cells

The closest living relatives of the bacteria that moved into the cells of a larger organism more than a billion years ago and eventually became mitochondria powering our cells may have been identified living in hot springs

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Space

Mars used to have wet and dry seasons similar to ones on Earth

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Life

World's smallest baleen whale stays home instead of migrating to feed

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Life

Neuron-like machinery helps anemones decide when to sting

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Chemistry

Chemical reaction used in cooking may have helped complex life evolve

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