ESA’s spacecraft Juice (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) has been forced to cancel its planned liftoff due to the risk of lightning, only minutes before its scheduled take-off time.
The spacecraft was meant to begin today its 8-year journey to Jupiter, to discover whether the planet's three icy moons - Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede - could support life.
The spacecraft has been loaded with 10 scientific instruments, in what is the ESA’s biggest deep-space mission yet. The 6.6-billion km journey has been supported by British scientists, as well as the UK Space Agency, which has provided £9m of funding for the £1.4bn project.
The next launch window has been scheduled for 1.14pm BST on Friday, April 14.
The spacecraft was scheduled to lift off on an Ariane 5 rocket on Thursday at 1.15pm UK time...