NEW DELHI — The European Space Agency (ESA) on Wednesday said that its Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) probe has successfully completed its flyby of the Moon and the Earth, marking a double-first in space history.
“ESA has successfully completed the world’s first-ever lunar-Earth flyby,” the ESA said in a post on X.com.
The agency said that JUICE made its closest approach to the Moon on August 19 at 23:15 CEST (2. 45 a.m, August 21 in Indian Standard Time), while its closest approach to Earth occurred on August 20, a little over 24 hours later, at 23:56 CEST (3:26 a.m, August 21 in IST).
JUICE used eight of its 10 instruments to gather scientific data when it flew just 6,840 km above Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. It also used its onboard monitoring cameras to take several pictures.
"We were thrilled to see JUICE coming back so close to Earth. The gravity assist flyby was flawless, everything went without a hitch," said Ignacio Tanco, the mission's spacecraft operations manager.
Launched on April 13, last year, JUICE is ESA’s first-ever mission to find alien life on the icy worlds of Jupiter. The lunar-Earth flyby marks the beginning of JUICE's spacecraft's voyage from Earth to Jupiter after its launch.
This ESA calls it a “braking manoeuvre” which will then take JUICE on a shortcut to Jupiter via Venus,
“Sending JUICE on a shortcut to Jupiter via Venus,” ESA said.
The flyby's goal was to reroute Juice's trajectory through space by altering the spacecraft's speed and direction using the gravitational pull of the Moon and later Earth, the agency said.
During the Moon flyby, JUICE’s monitoring camera 1 captured stunning details of the craters.
The spacecraft’s speed rose by 0.9 km/s in relation to the Sun during the Moon flyby, directing JUICE in the direction of Earth.
Its speed decreased by 4.8 km/s in relation to the Sun during Earth's passage, sending the spacecraft on a new course toward Venus.
The ESA noted that the probe was diverted by an angle of 100 degrees overall during the lunar-Earth flyby when compared to its pre-flyby route.
The lunar-Earth flyby also offered a chance to test JUICE’s scientific equipment in orbit, which went without the slightest inconvenience, the agency said.