The European Space Agency says it is closely monitoring and adjusting the Jupiter Ice Satellite Explorer (JUICE) as it attempts to fly the spacecraft around the moon and Earth as part of a multi-part journey to the solar system’s largest planet.
JUICE will conduct hazardous operations from August 19th to 20th; the aircraft will make its closest approach to Earth at around 12:00 noon (UTC +02:00) on August 20th.
The spacecraft’s expected acrobatics – a lunar-Earth flyby and dual force-assisted maneuvers – will amount to “double world firsts,” the European Space Agency said in a statement. The agency explains that gravity assist will change the speed and direction of a research vehicle, but getting it right can be tricky. Even the smallest error “could derail JUICE and end the mission,” ESA wrote.
JUICE launched in April 2023 and adjusted its trajectory 7 months later, kicking off the journey. As it flies by Earth and tests onboard instruments, the spacecraft will use Earth’s gravity to slow down and “bend” toward Venus, orbiting Earth in August 2025 and then returning. (Slowing down is necessary to limit the amount of fuel JUICE needs to enter orbit around other planets).
The spacecraft will then orbit Earth two more times (once in September 2026 and again in January 2029) in order to enter Jupiter’s orbit in 2031 on the correct path and speed. The fifth planet and its icy moons.
Ignacio Tanco, JUICE’s spacecraft operations manager, said the Moon-Earth flyby was like “moving through a very narrow corridor very, very quickly: when the gap between the sides is only a few millimeters, Push the accelerator to the maximum.
Only the luckiest JUICE directors will be able to spot the spacecraft using telescopes or high-powered binoculars as it flies “directly over Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean,” ESA said. The agency shared the vehicle’s trajectory data here . An easier way to follow up, however, is to monitor ESA’s blog or X (formerly Twitter) account, where the agency plans to post photos taken by JUICE’s two monitors during flybys Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
Venus and Jupiter are not the only planets observed by ESA spacecraft. The agency’s Mars Express orbiter recently returned stunning images of the red planet’s “winding scars.” As for its American counterpart, the European Space Agency, the US space agency is seeking help from the private sector to get its abandoned lunar rover to the moon. NASA has also sought help from private space companies with plans to destroy the £1 million International Space Station after decommissioning it at the end of 2030.
