Airbus signs contract to build Jupiter spacecraft

Airbus Group's defence and space division said it signed a 350 million euro (US$384 million) contract on Wednesday to build a spacecraft for the European Space Agency to explore the moons around Jupiter.

The JUICE vessel, an abbreviation taken from "Jupiter icy moons explorer", will launch in 2022 and cruise for seven and a half years around the Earth, Venus and Mars before reaching the Jovian system around Jupiter, Airbus said.

The spacecraft will then spend three and a half years carrying out a full tour of Jupiter's orbit before moving on to Ganymede, one of its icy moons.

The company will be the prime contractor in an industrial consortium of more than 60 European companies, with the first equipment expected for delivery in the summer of next year, Airbus Space Systems head Francois Auque said.

The spacecraft, weighing five and a half tonnes and powered by a 97 square metre solar generator, will become the first to enter orbit around an icy moon in the outer solar system, according to Airbus Defence and Space.

Airbus Defence and Space was selected for ESA's JUICE mission in July.