ESA’s JUICE spacecraft confirmed Earth is habitable. Here’s why

ESA’s JUICE spacecraft confirmed Earth is habitable. Here’s why

ESA‘s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is ultimately headed for the Jovian system, but on Aug. 20, it took a quick look at Earth. The spacecraft returned some very exciting news: the Earth is indeed habitable.

The probe launched in April 2023 and is currently making its way through the solar system on an eight-year journey to explore Jupiter and three of its moons Ganymede, Callisto and Europa, all of which are believed to have liquid-water oceans beneath their icy shells. During a flyby of Earth on Aug. 20, JUICE was able to successfully identify water in Earth’s atmosphere, as well as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, and sulfur (the “CHNOPS” elements, which are the most common elements in living organisms). And as such, scientists can confirm that there is the potential for life on Earth.


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