The Juice spacecraft swung back home on its way to Jupiter and used both Earth and the moon's gravity to slingshot it forward, in the first lunar-Earth flyby.
The Juice spacecraft, a European Space Agency mission to visit the icy moons of Jupiter, has just made a world’s first maneuver. This week, the craft swung back to Earth on its way to Jupiter and used both Earth and the moon’s gravity to slingshot it onward, in the first lunar-Earth flyby.
Recommended Videos That’s why spacecraft often leave Earth only to arrive back at our planet a few months or years later, performing a flyby maneuver. In Juice’s case, it launched in 2023, and has now swing back around to visit us again. By swinging around Earth, the spacecraft can get a boost to push it farther along its journey.
“The gravity assist flyby was flawless, everything went without a hitch, and we were thrilled to see Juice coming back so close to Earth,” says Ignacio Tanco, spacecraft operations manager for the mission, in a statement. “Thanks to very precise navigation by ESA’s Flight Dynamics team, we managed to use only a tiny fraction of the propellant reserved for this flyby. This will add to the margins we keep for a rainy day, or to extend the science mission once we get to Jupiter.
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