European Space Agency ESA shared interesting news from the automatic interplanetary station JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer), created to study the Jupiter system. The probe sent its first pictures from space.

“Selfies” against the background of the world turned out great. The photo was taken a few hours after the spacecraft launched from the European spaceport Kourou in Guyana. The launch of the Ariane 5 rocket carrying JUICE took place on Friday, April 14, 2023. The day before, on April 13, the launch was canceled due to bad weather.

The spacecraft is equipped with several cameras, two on the fuselage, to monitor the deployment of JUICE’s various systems, such as solar wings and antennas. The first selfies were taken with these cameras – photos with a resolution of 1024×024 pixels, later processed with a small color adjustment.

Surveillance cameras will be active throughout JUICE’s mission. After an eight-year voyage to Jupiter, the probe will make detailed observations of the gas giant and its three major moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.