JUICE Spacecraft Completes Earth-Moon Gravity Assist

European Space Agency's Jupiter mission uses gravitational slingshot to optimize trajectory toward the gas giant.

The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) successfully completed a complex gravitational assist maneuver, flying past both Earth and the Moon to adjust its trajectory toward Jupiter.

The spacecraft passed just 6,840 kilometers above Southeast Asia before swinging past the Moon 24 hours later at a distance of 700 kilometers. This intricate double flyby increased JUICE's velocity and redirected its path, saving precious fuel for the mission's later phases.

Mission Director Giuseppe Sarri explained, 'This was like threading a needle in space. We had to time the Earth flyby precisely to set up the lunar encounter, all while avoiding collisions with space debris and managing thermal constraints.'

JUICE is now on course for Venus flybys in 2025 and 2026, followed by additional Earth assists before finally reaching Jupiter in 2031. Once there, it will study three of Jupiter's largest moons: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa, all of which are believed to harbor subsurface oceans.

The mission carries a suite of 10 instruments including ice-penetrating radar, spectrometers, and magnetometers to study these potentially habitable environments.