European scientists are in the final stages of preparation for one of the most ambitious space projects ever undertaken, launching a 12-year mission to the outer solar system to investigate whether three of Jupiter’s moons might support life.

The European Space Agency’s €1.6bn Juice spacecraft will launch in April carrying 10 scientific instruments that will use different techniques to observe the Ganymede, Callisto and Europa moons and the space around Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system.

The mission will examine Jupiter’s complex physical and chemical environment. The planet is a “gas giant” mostly composed of hydrogen and helium that will offer scientists clues about the billions of similar planets and moons believed to exist across the Milky Way galaxy. Juice, short for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, will also help scientists assess whether living creatures might thrive in the deep oceans expected to lie beneath the moons’ ice crusts.