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Astronomers claim Jupiter and its moons could provide the best hope of finding signs of alien life in our solar system.

Now, in an effort to explorer its distant oceans, the Jupiter icy moons explorer (Juice) mission has been given the green light to launch in 2022.

The five-tonne satellite will reach Jupiter in 2030 where it will use its suite of instruments to explore the planet's atmosphere, magnetosphere and tenuous set of rings.

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Astronomers claim Jupiter and its moons could provide the best hope of finding signs of alien life in our solar system. Now, in an effort to explorer its distant oceans, the Jupiter icy moons explorer (Juice) mission has been given the green light to launch in 2022 (artist's impression pictured)

Juice will also look at Jupiter's diverse Galilean moons - volcanic Io, icy Europa and rock-ice Ganymede and Callisto - which make the Jovian system a miniature solar system in its own right.

The focus will largely be on Ganymede, though, and will the first time any icy moon has been orbited by a spacecraft.

Earlier this year, scientists said Ganymede might have ice and oceans stacked up in several layers similar to a club sandwich.

Previously, the moon was thought to harbour a thick ocean sandwiched between just two layers of ice, one on top and one on bottom, but now it seems it has multiple layers.

Scientists believe there is a hidden ocean on Jupiter's moon

Scientists claims that places where water and rock interact are important for the development of life. For example, it is possible life began on Earth in bubbling vents on our sea floor.

Prior to the new study, Ganymede's rocky sea bottom was thought to be coated with ice, not liquid - a problem for the emergence of life.

It will visit Callisto, the most heavily cratered object in the solar system, and will twice fly by Europa.

Juice is hoping to make the first measurements of the thickness of Europa's icy crust and will identify candidate sites for future in situ exploration.

The Galileo mission found strong evidence that a subsurface ocean of salty water is in contact with a rocky seafloor.

HOW GANYMEDE'S ICY INTERIOR WORKS 

Scientists claim Ganymede might have ice and oceans stacked up in several layers like a club sandwich

It may seem strange that salt can make the ocean denser, but you can see for yourself how this works by adding table salt to a glass of water.

Rather than increasing in volume, the liquid shrinks and becomes denser.

This is because the salt ions attract water molecules.

The models get more complicated when the different forms of ice are taken into account.

The ice that floats in your drinks is called 'Ice I.' It's the least dense form of ice and lighter than water.

But at high pressures, like those in crushingly deep oceans like Ganymede's, the ice crystal structures become more compact.

'It's like finding a better arrangement of shoes in your luggage - the ice molecules become packed together more tightly,' said Vance.

The ice can become so dense that it is heavier than water and falls to the bottom of the sea. The densest and heaviest ice thought to persist in Ganymede is called 'Ice VI.'

By modeling these processes using computers, the team came up with an ocean sandwiched between up to three ice layers, in addition to the rocky seafloor.

Europa may be one of our best hopes for finding life in the solar system. Pictured is the surface of Europa

Scientists believe the cycling of material between the ocean and ice shell could potentially provide sources of chemical energy that could sustain simple life forms.

It is believed that geysers spurting out of Jupiter's moon may be an opportunity to spot alien life originating beneath the surface.

This was based on observations by the Hubble Space Telescope in December 2013 that saw water vapour being ejected from the moon, lending evidence to the existence of jets.

'Jupiter is the archetype for the giant planets of the Solar System and for many giant planets being found around other stars,' Professor Alvaro Giménez Cañete, Esa's Director of Science and Robotic Exploration, said when the mission was announced.

'Juice will give us better insight into how gas giants and their orbiting worlds form, and their potential for hosting life.'

Juice is hoping to make the first measurements of the thickness of Europa's icy crust and will identify candidate sites for future in situ exploration