The European Space Agency says it is closely monitoring and coordinating the exploration of the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), which orbits the Moon and Earth as part of a multi-stage journey towards the solar system’s largest planet.
JUICE is scheduled to carry out this risky maneuver on August 19-20, with its closest approach to Earth around 12 a.m. ET (UTC +02:00) on August 20.
The spacecraft’s planned acrobatic maneuvers — lunar and Earth flybys and a double gravity assist maneuver — will be “double world firsts,” ESA said in a statement. Gravity assist changes the research craft’s speed and direction, but getting it right will be difficult, ESA explained. Even the slightest error “could send JUICE off course, meaning the end of the mission,” ESA wrote.
JUICE will launch in April 2023, undergo orbital adjustments seven months later, and begin its journey: While passing by Earth to test its onboard instruments, the probe will use Venus’ gravity to slow down and “bend” toward Venus, circling the planet in August 2025 before returning to Earth. (The slowdown is necessary to limit the amount of fuel needed to put JUICE into orbit around another planet.)
The spacecraft will then make two more orbits around Earth (first in September 2026 and again in January 2029) to get on the right path and speed to enter Jupiter’s orbit in 2031. From there, JUICE will observe the fifth planet from the Sun and its icy moons.
Ignacio Tanco, JUICE’s spacecraft operations manager, said the moon and Earth flybys would be “like going through a very narrow passage very fast — like hitting the gas pedal to the max with only millimeters of clearance on the side of the road.”
According to the ESA, only the luckiest JUICE fans will be able to spot the probe using a telescope or powerful binoculars, as it flies “directly above Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean.” ESA has published the probe’s orbital data here, but an easier way to follow is to check the ESA’s blog or X (formerly Twitter) account. The ESA will post photos taken by JUICE’s two surveillance cameras during the flyby on Monday night and early Tuesday morning on its blog or X (formerly Twitter) account.
Venus and Jupiter are not the only planets monitored by ESA’s spacecraft. The agency’s Mars Express Orbiter recently sent back shocking images of the Red Planet’s “snake-like scar”. ESA’s US counterpart, NASA, is seeking help from the private sector to send an abandoned probe to the Moon. NASA is also planning to destroy the £1 million International Space Station when it is decommissioned at the end of 2030 and is asking private space companies for help.
