The European Space Agency’s Juice mission has achieved two historic firsts on its journey to study Jupiter’s icy moons. The spacecraft, launched in April 2023, conducted its first flyby of the moon and Earth in succession, as well as the first double gravity assist maneuver.
On August 19, Juice flew by Earth’s moon at 5:15 pm ET, followed by a close approach to Earth on August 20. During this time, Juice took photos with its cameras and sent them back to Earth. The spacecraft’s two cameras captured images of color differences in large-scale features on the lunar surface.
The gravity assist flyby was a high-risk, high-reward maneuver that required careful planning by the mission team. Using the gravity of planets like Earth and Venus can make just the right adjustments to Juice’s trajectory to put it in the proper direction and at the optimal speed to reach Jupiter.
Juice’s double flyby of Earth and the moon slowed down the spacecraft just enough so it can fly by Venus for an energy boost next year. The mission team is thrilled with the success of the flyby, which will save around 220-330 pounds (100-150 kilograms) of fuel.
The spacecraft also activated all 10 of its scientific instruments during the double flyby to calibrate them before arriving at Jupiter. This included testing the Radar for Icy Moon Exploration instrument, which is eager to gather data on electronic noise within the spacecraft.
Images and data collected during the flyby will be shared by the agency in the coming weeks. The mission team is excited to analyze the data and prepare Juice’s instruments for arrival at Jupiter.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/19/science/esa-juice-moon-earth-flyby/index.html