Earth’s gravity boosts Juice spacecraft on journey to Jupiter
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) spacecraft completed a close flyby of Earth, using the planet’s gravity to alter its trajectory on its way to Jupiter while conserving fuel, Qazinform News Agency reports.
According to ESA, Juice passed just 8,640 kilometers above the Indian Ocean during its closest approach at 11:45 UTC on Monday, September 28. The maneuver deflected the spacecraft’s trajectory by 20 degrees and increased its velocity by 3.5 km/s.
In the four weeks before the flyby, mission operators made only one small trajectory correction out of six planned opportunities, allowing Juice to make the most of Earth’s gravity. The spacecraft was closely tracked from August 17 and will continue to be monitored through October 10.
During the flyby, Juice also tested its scientific instruments and conducted observations of Earth and the Moon. The spacecraft spent several days traveling through Earth’s magnetotail, measuring magnetic fields and charged particles.
ESA said the flyby provided an opportunity to calibrate the instruments ahead of Juice’s upcoming observations of Jupiter and its icy moons.
Juice will make its final Earth flyby in January 2029 before reaching Jupiter in 2031, according to ESA. The spacecraft is scheduled to conduct 35 flybys of Jupiter’s large moons – Ganymede, Europa and Callisto – during its mission.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that NASA’s Perseverance had discovered igneous rocks in Mars’ Jezero Crater that preserve evidence of multiple episodes of water interaction.