The Juice spacecraft , a European Space Agency mission to visit the icy Moon of Jupiter , has just made a humanity ’s first maneuver . This week , the slyness swung back to Earth on its manner to Jupiter and used both Earth and the moon ’s gravity to slingshot it onward , in the first lunar - world flyby .
When you cogitate about spacecraft traveling to distant parts of the solar arrangement , you might ideate them pointing directly toward their targets and traveling in a square seam . But that expend an awful lot of fuel , as the spacecraft needs to surmount the gravity of various bodies . It is much more effective in damage of fuel use to travel in a serial of circular field , gradually align course to move out in a volute rule with the sun at the center . This take more time but less of the cute fuel that is so heavy to comport .
That ’s why ballistic capsule often leave alone Earth only to get in back at our planet a few calendar month or year afterwards , performing a flyby manoeuvre . In Juice ’s case , itlaunched in 2023 , and has now swing back around to impose us again . By swing around Earth , the spacecraft can get a boost to push it farther along its journeying .
What makes this flyby unusual is that Juice did n’t only use the somberness of Earth — it also made usage of the moon . It first fly past the moon , and then Earth , using the gravity of both to change speed and direction . It is now on course to do a flyby of Venus next year , before swinging by Earth doubly more before being shot off toward Jupiter .
“ The gravity help flyby was flawless , everything went without a hitch , and we were thrilled to see Juice coming back so close to Earth , ” say Ignacio Tanco , spacecraft operations manager for the mission , in astatement . “ Thanks to very precise navigation by ESA ’s Flight Dynamics team , we managed to utilise only a flyspeck fraction of the propellant set aside for this flyby . This will add to the margins we keep for a showery daytime , or to gallop the scientific discipline commission once we get to Jupiter . ”
As a bonus , the flyby also gave the scientist on the mission a probability to test out the ballistic capsule ’s instrument . Among other data , the space vehicle snapped a arresting image of Earth as it passed by :
“ The timing and location of this double flyby permit us to thoroughly study the behavior of Juice ’s instruments , ” explained Claire Vallat , Juice cognitive process scientist . “ It pass early enough in Juice ’s journey that we can use the data to prepare the official document for arrival at Jupiter . And impart how well we know the physical belongings of Earth , the Moon , and the surrounding distance environment , it ’s also the ideal localization to see how the instruments respond to a veridical target . ”
Data from this flyby should be published within the next few weeks , admit more high - resolution images of both Earth and the moon taken by the spacecraft ’s JANUS camera .
