Juice probe to conduct historic lunar and Earth flybys this week before journey to Jupiter

The Jupiter probe, Juice, launched just over a year ago, will be flying past the Moon and Earth this week, specifically on Tuesday and Wednesday. The spacecraft will first pass by the Moon and then, a day later, approach Earth. The European Space Agency (ESA) is adjusting the satellite’s trajectory during these flybys to enable its journey to Jupiter, as the trip requires an immense amount of fuel, which would be impossible without the gravitational assistance of the planets.

According to Aalto University, this is the first time both the Earth and the Moon are being used together to alter the probe’s trajectory, a maneuver dubbed “gravitational slingshot flyby”. Esa Kallio, a professor of space science and technology at Aalto University, described the event as an “astronomical double flipper” aimed at Jupiter. He noted that executing even one such flyby is a challenging task, and performing a double flyby significantly increases the difficulty.

ESA will be discussing the flyby in a live stream scheduled for tonight, where images captured by Juice of the Moon will be showcased. At its closest, Juice will be about 750 kilometers from the Moon’s surface tonight at 00:16. It will come closest to Earth on Wednesday at 00:57 Finnish time.

Finnish researchers at Aalto University and the Finnish Meteorological Institute have participated in designing and constructing the PEP measuring device onboard the probe. Upon arrival, Juice will investigate particles emerging from and impacting the surfaces of Jupiter’s moons, with onboard instruments aimed at studying the potential for life beneath the icy surfaces, where vast oceans are believed to exist. After the lunar and Earth flybys, the probe will next be assisted by Venus in a flyby scheduled for next year. Juice’s journey to Jupiter is expected to take a total of eight years.