Previewing the FlybyCredit: ESA. Closest Earth approach occurs about 24 hours later on Tuesday, August 20^th at 21:57 UT. At its closest, JUICE will pass 6,807 kilometers from the surface of Earth over northeastern Asia and the Pacific. This encounter happens in the daytime

Well-placed observers have a rare opportunity to see an interplanetary spacecraft early next week.

If skies are clear, dedicated observers and imagers have a shot early next week at seeing a spacecraft headed to Jupiter.

The Mission is JUICE, the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer. Launched atop an Ariane-5 rocket from Kourou Space Center in French Guiana on April 14^th, 2023, JUICE is due to arrive at Jupiter in 2031. But first, the spacecraft will perform several planetary flybys to pick up speed, hurdling it towards the outer solar system.

Next week, JUICE will pass closely by Moon and Earth. The daring maneuver offers the first opportunity to test the scientific instruments in a Jupiter-like setting

After almost one and a half years of traveling through space, ESA’s space probe JUICE is due to pay a visit home at the beginning of next week: In order to adjust its speed and course on its way to Jupiter, the space probe will first fly close to the Moon and then to Earth on Monday and Tuesday, August 19 and 20, 2024. This is the first time that a space probe has attempted a maneuver of this kind. The event is eagerly awaited at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Göttingen. The scientific and technical teams that contributed to two of the ten scientific instruments on board have been preparing for months. The unique double flyby offers the first opportunity to carry out measurements under conditions similar to those in the Jovian system.

Complex choreography in space

In order for JUICE to be captured in the desired orbit by the gas giant when it arrives in the Jupiter system, the speed of the space probe must be exactly right. In the first few years of its eight-year journey, JUICE will therefore fly on a complicated, spiral-like path through the inner solar system and use fly-bys of the Moon, Earth, and Venus to change course, slow down and accelerate – following a precise choreography. It is like work of art, at the end of which the optimum trajectory and speed are achieved. While the upcoming encounters with the Moon and Earth will force the space probe onto a slower course, during the flybys in the coming years JUICE will pick up speed.

Throughout these flybys, several scientific instruments will be activated to test and calibrate their functions, possibly even capturing significant data. Notably, the JANUS camera and the GALA laser altimeter, both heavily supported by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), will be among the instruments utilized.

This maneuver is designed to conserve fuel for JUICE’s journey, which will include three additional flybys – one of Venus and two of Earth – culminating in its arrival at Jupiter and its moons in 2031. JUICE is expected to study Jupiter’s icy moons – Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto – until 2035.

The LEGA maneuver is a high-stakes operation, controlled by ESA’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. The spacecraft’s precise trajectory will be monitored continuously from August 17-22, 2024. Radio communication with JUICE will be maintained through ESA’s Estrack ground stations in Spain, Australia, and Argentina. ESA acknowledges the risks involved, particularly when JUICE will be out of contact for about half an hour while in the Moon’s shadow on August 20, shortly before its closest lunar approach.

All of this is necessary because if JUICE were to fly in a straight line to Jupiter, it would need more than 60,000 kilograms of fuel to get there, and even more to slow down and enter orbit once it arrives. The mass of the entire spacecraft without fuel is 2420 kilograms, so that is not remotely feasible. Instead, the upcoming flyby of Earth and the moon will send the craft towards Venus, where it will start to speed up, and then it will make two more passes by Earth to gain just the right amount of speed to get to Jupiter in 2031.

The first manoeuvre may be the most complicated of the entire mission because JUICE must pass through precisely the right point in relation to both Earth and the moon to catch a ride to Venus. “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,” said ESA’s Ignacio Tanco in a statement. A double-flyby of Earth and the moon has never been attempted before, nor has any double gravity assist.

If all goes well, JUICE won’t just be on its way to Venus and then Jupiter – it will also perform the first real tests of its scientific instruments. For some of them, this is the only chance they will get to iron out any kinks while observing a planetary surface before the spacecraft arrives in orbit around Jupiter and begins its mission there: searching for hints that the giant world’s moons could host life.

What is the JUICE mission?

JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) will explore Jupiter and three of its icy moons in depth. Mission details. Launch Date April 14, 2023. Arrival Date July 14, 2031.

Who launched the JUICE project?

Airbus has developed and built JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) spacecraft for the European Space Agency, which will study Jupiter and its icy moons.

What does JUICE stand for in NASA?

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice, formerly JUICE) is an interplanetary spacecraft on its way to orbit and study three icy moons of Jupiter: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa

How many people are working on the JUICE Mission?

However, during its Venus flyby, the temperature will be 250°C! > 2,000: The number of people who worked on the JUICE mission. This ESA-led, global collaboration included 18 institutions, 23 countries and 83 companies

What is the fuel for the JUICE mission?

It has a bi-propellant chemical propulsion system, using mono-methyl hydrazine (MMH) fuel and mixed oxides of nitrogen (MON) oxidiser.

How much did the JUICE mission cost?

After concluding a mission estimated to cost around 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion), ESA anticipates JUICE will ultimately crash into Ganymede in late 2035 after running out of the fuel needed to maintain its orbit around the moon

What are the aims of the JUICE mission?

Juice’s main goal is to characterise Jupiter’s moons as both celestial bodies and possible habitats for life (either past or present

Why does it take 8 years to get to Jupiter?

“We simply do not have enough energy [at launch] to go in a more direct orbit [around Jupiter], so we need to do all these gravity maneuvers in order to gradually increase the energy of the spacecraft in order to reach Jupiter,” Atzei said

What countries are involved in the JUICE mission?

European countries, Japan, and the US will all be part of the mission. The probe aims to explore the possibilities of life in space and the origins of Jupiter. Galileo Galilei pointed his telescope at Jupiter 400 years ago and discovered 4 celestial bodies circling Jupiter.

What is the icy moon of Jupiter?

The puzzling, fascinating surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa looms large in this view made from images taken by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. One of the most important discoveries made by Galileo showed how Jupiter’s magnetic field was disrupted in the space around Europa.

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission launched on April 14, 2023 from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana on an Ariane 5 rocket. The mission’s goal is to explore Jupiter’s major moons, particularly Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto. The spacecraft is powered by solar panels and will travel for eight years, using four gravity assists, before reaching Jupiter in July 2031. Once there, it will fly near the moons before entering orbit around Ganymede

The JUICE mission has received support from NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and the Israel Space Agency, who have provided hardware and scientific instrumentation. The mission’s team has also taken steps to protect the probe’s sensitive equipment from high radiation levels by sealing it in a lead-lined vault

As of November 17, 2023, ESA’s Juice spacecraft (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) is on its way to Jupiter after completing a 43-minute maneuver to change its orbit around the sun. This maneuver was the first part of a two-part process that will put Juice on the correct trajectory for a double gravity assist with Earth and the moon next summer. The maneuver used almost 10% of the spacecraft’s fuel reserve and could be the last time Juice’s main engine is used before it arrives at Jupiter in 2031

Once it reaches Jupiter, Juice will spend three years touring the planet and its moons, including two flybys of Europa. The spacecraft’s main body, or “bus”, is cuboid-shaped and measures 4.09 by 2.86 by 4.35 meters, not including its solar arrays. 

You can use an interactive tool to track Juice’s journey to Jupiter, which includes 3D close-ups of different mission stages and an infographic of the entire journey

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