Juice rerouted to Venus in first lunar-Earth flyby
ESA's Juice spacecraft completed a lunar-Earth flyby, redirecting towards Venus, saving fuel, and enhancing mission capabilities. It aims to study Jupiter's moons, arriving in July 2031, with data publication forthcoming.
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ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) has successfully completed a historic lunar-Earth flyby, utilizing Earth's gravity to redirect its trajectory towards Venus. The flyby occurred on August 19 and 20, 2024, with Juice passing just 6,840 km above Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. During this maneuver, the spacecraft captured images and collected scientific data using eight of its ten instruments. The flyby increased Juice's speed by 0.9 km/s relative to the Sun during the Moon flyby and decreased it by 4.8 km/s during the Earth flyby, resulting in a 100° deflection from its original path. This maneuver not only altered Juice's trajectory but also saved approximately 100-150 kg of fuel, allowing for extended scientific operations. The mission aims to gather data on Jupiter and its moons, including Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa, with a planned arrival at Jupiter in July 2031. Following the Venus flyby in August 2025, Juice will make additional flybys of Earth in 2026 and 2029 to gain further momentum. The successful flyby also provided an opportunity to test Juice's scientific instruments, with results expected to be published soon.
- Juice completed a lunar-Earth flyby, redirecting its path towards Venus.
- The flyby saved 100-150 kg of fuel, enhancing mission capabilities.
- Juice will arrive at Jupiter in July 2031 after multiple flybys.
- The mission aims to study Jupiter's moons as potential habitats for life.
- Scientific data from the flyby will be published in the coming weeks.
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6 commentshttps://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2024/08/Juice_s_lu...
(for those that are more visual)
- 2nd and 3rd Earth flybys 9/2026 and 1/2029
- 7/2031 arrives Jupiter; Jupiter orbit insertion and apocentre reduction with multiple Ganymede gravity assists
- 1/2032 .. 11/2034 Reduction of velocity with Ganymede–Callisto assists. Increase inclination with 10–12 Callisto gravity assists.
- 12/2034 enter Ganymede orbit for its close-up science mission
- 12/2035 will impact on Ganymede when runs out of propellant
summarizing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Icy_Moons_Explorer#Sum...
"Rerouted" means that the route was changed, not that the trajectory was changed. The route was planned before launch, and that hasn't changed. The headline makes it seem like there was an unplanned change.
While technically correct, this sentence is misleading. The ESA can do better.
Passing by a body can deflect a spacecraft. So technically, the Earth’s gravity sends the craft “Venus bound.” But “the gravity of Earth” imparts no net delta-v and wouldn’t on its own allow the craft to reach Venus.
A “gravity assist around a planet changes a spacecraft's velocity (relative to the Sun) by entering and leaving the gravitational sphere of influence of a planet” [1]. The Earth’s revolution around the Sun gets the craft to Venus, not the Earth’s gravity.
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