Understanding of formation and evolution of the Solar system is a central goal of space explorations. Japanese researchers have contributed to achieve this goal, for instance, through sample return missions, such as Hayabusa, and development of "Kyoto model" that describes planet formation within a protoplanetary disk.
Through investigation of Jupiter and its icy moons by the JUICE mission, we then try to understand how our Solar system was designed in the early stages. Knowledge on the origin of our Solar system is critical to understand whether our Solar system is unique in the universe. Formation processes of Jupiter are also important to constrain the origin of atmosphere, oceans, and life on Earth.
The goal of JUICE-Japan includes to address the fundamental questions, such as “where did we come from?” and “who are we?”