Skip to main content

JUICE mission to Jupiter sends back first images of Earth from space

The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft, which launched last week, has sent back its first images from space — and they are some stunning views of the Earth. The JUICE mission is on its way to explore three of Jupiter’s largest moons — Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa — but it will be traveling for eight years before it arrives at the Jupiter system in 2031.

In the meantime, the spacecraft’s cameras have been taking images pointed back at Earth. The images were captured shortly after launch on Friday, April 14, using JUICE’s monitoring cameras. The two cameras are designed to watch over the spacecraft as it deploys rather than for scientific purposes, so they capture image at a relatively low resolution of 1024 x 1024 pixels. Even so, they managed to get some gorgeous views of the planet as JUICE speeds away from it.

Shortly after launch on 14 April, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, captured this stunning view of Earth. The coastline around the Gulf of Aden can be made out to the right of centre, with patchy clouds above land and sea.
Shortly after launch on 14 April, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer captured this stunning view of Earth. The coastline around the Gulf of Aden can be made out to the right of center, with patchy clouds above land and sea. ESA/Juice/JMC, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

The monitoring cameras are needed to oversee the complex process of the JUICE spacecraft unfurling its various antennae and booms. The spacecraft had to be folded up to fit inside the nose cone of the Ariane 5 rocket that launched it, but once it was deployed into space, it could begin unfurling. It has already unfolded its two large solar panels, spanning a total of 27 meters, and over the next two weeks, it will deploy further structures like its 16m-long Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (RIME) antenna.

One of the monitoring cameras, called Juice monitoring camera 2, or JMC2, is located on top of the spacecraft to oversee the deployment of the RIME antenna. In the image below, you can see the RIME antennae folded up and in the configuration in which it was stowed for launch, and ready to begin deployment in the next few days.

Shortly after launch on 14 April, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, captured this image with its Juice monitoring camera 2 (JMC2).
Shortly after launch on 14 April, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer captured this image with its Juice monitoring camera 2 (JMC2). ESA/Juice/JMC, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

The other monitoring camera, Juice monitoring camera 1, or JMC1, is placed at the front of the spacecraft to oversee the deployment of the solar panels and other antennae.

If you’re hoping for some more detailed images of Jupiter and its moon from the mission, don’t worry: JUICE also has a science camera called JANUS that will capture high-resolution images.

The JANUS (Jovis, Amorum ac Natorum Undique Scrutator) instrument will study Jupiter’s atmospher,e as well as the icy moons, armed with a wheel of 13 different filters to detect particular chemical elements. It will be able to capture images with a resolution of up to 8 feet on Ganymede and around 6 miles at Jupiter.

Editors' Recommendations

Georgina Torbet
Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…
SpaceX and Vast aim to be first to deploy a private space station
How Vast's space station will look in orbit.

VAST ANNOUNCES THE HAVEN-1 AND VAST-1 MISSIONS

As the International Space Station nears the end of its life, SpaceX and Los Angeles-based startup Vast have unveiled a plan to launch the first commercial space station.

Read more
Space junk cleanup mission secures a ride to space
ClearSpace's debris-catching spacecraft.

A startup geared toward clearing up space junk now has a chance to test its technology after securing a ride aboard to orbit aboard an Arianespace Vega-C rocket.

Switzerland-based ClearSpace hopes to launch its ClearSpace-1 mission in 2026 with the aim of capturing and removing a piece of orbital debris weighing 247 pounds (112 kilograms).

Read more
See the first image of Earth from a new weather-monitoring satellite
First image of the full Earth disc from the Meteosat Third Generation Imager. The first image from Meteosat Third Generation – Imager 1 (MTG-I1) reveals a level of detail about the weather over Europe and Africa not previously possible from 36 000 km above Earth. The higher-resolution images provided by the instruments on board give weather forecasters more information about the clouds cloaking much of Europe and visible in the equatorial region of Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. Sand and sediment in the waters off Italy are also visible, as well as dust or smog being carried from south Asia. This degree of detail is not possible from the instruments on the Meteosat Second Generation satellites. The image was captured at 11:50 UTC on 18 March 2023 by the Flexible Combined Imager on MTG-I1.

A recently launched weather satellite has sent back its first image of Earth, showing our planet in gorgeous detail. The European Meteosat Third Generation Imager-1 was launched in December of last year with the aim of monitoring weather conditions across Europe and Africa, and it took this image from its location 22,000 miles above the Earth's surface.

The image was taken using the high-resolution Flexible Combined Imager instrument in March 2023, showing the areas of cloud and clear skies that can be seen over the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the European and African land masses.

Read more