Europe's New Rocket Misses 2023 Launch Window

p> Europe's new rocket, the Ariane 6, missed its first launch window on Thursday, August 10, due to bad weather. The launch was scheduled for 8:15 a.m. EDT (12:15 GMT), but was halted about ten minutes before liftoff because of a risk of lightning at the launch site in Kourou, French Guiana.

The launch will now be rescheduled for Friday, August 11 at 8:14 a.m. EDT (12:14 GMT). Arianespace, the launch provider, said that the weather forecast for Friday looks favorable, and they are confident that the launch will be able to proceed as planned.

The Ariane 6 is a new generation of rocket that is designed to be more efficient and cost-effective than its predecessor, the Ariane 5. It is also capable of carrying heavier payloads, which makes it well-suited for missions to distant planets like Jupiter.

The JUICE mission is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission to study Jupiter and its moons. The spacecraft will spend at least three years in orbit around Jupiter, making close-up observations of the planet and its moons. JUICE is the first mission to study Jupiter's icy moons in detail, and it is expected to make major discoveries about the formation and evolution of these moons.

The JUICE spacecraft is currently in storage at the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. It will be transported to the launch pad on Friday morning in preparation for the launch.

The launch of the JUICE mission is a major event for the European space program. It is the first major ESA mission to launch since the Rosetta mission, which landed a probe on a comet in 2014. The success of the JUICE mission will help to ensure that Europe remains a leader in the field of space exploration.

You can watch the launch of the JUICE mission live on the ESA website:

[Image of Ariane 6 rocket] [Image of JUICE spacecraft]