The European Space Agency's Juice spacecraft will do a "world first" fly-by when it returns to Earth on Monday night. Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) equipped with UK instrumentation will be navigated past the Moon and eventually Earth by flight controllers from the space agency, as per Euronews.
The spacecraft will use the gravity of the Moon and later that of Earth as a natural brake, slowing down and then accelerating on to the next leg of its mission. According to the agency, it is trying a "double-world first"-the first-ever double gravity assists manoeuvre as well as the first-ever lunar-Earth flyby. This daring manoeuvre will take Juice on a shortcut to Jupiter via Venus.
Notably, the ESA said that a small mistake during this "daring feat" could take the spacecraft off its course. Nicolas Altobelli, ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer Mission Manager, said, "You need a gravitational assist - or pull - from the planets to help you get enough energy and be able to fly up to Jupiter."
Juice spacecraft will pass very close to Earth and the Moon, and from August 17 to 22, ESA ground stations across the globe will maintain constant communication with the spacecraft. The "double-world first" fly-by is expected to take place from 11:57 pm to the early hours of Tuesday. "It's like passing through a very narrow corridor, very, very quickly: pushing the accelerator to the maximum when the margin at the side of the road is just millimetres," Ignacio Tanco, JUICE's Spacecraft Operations Manager, said in a statement.
Juice's trajectory will be bent by our planet during the lunar-Earth encounter, "braking" it and rerouting it for a flyby of Venus in August 2025, according to ESA. Further, it will make two additional flybys of Earth in 2026 and 2029 to gather enough momentum to move toward Jupiter by 2031.
The mission will travel 4.1 billion miles over the course of more than eight years, which started in April 2023. Ten scientific equipment are on board to look into the possibility of life existing in the waters of the gas giant's three moons, Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto.
Juice will fly directly over Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, so some skygazers could be able to see it pass overhead. A powerful binocular or telescope will offer them the best chance of spotting the spacecraft.
