Juice changed course by 20° during Earth flyby - ScienceDaily
The ESA's Juice spacecraft successfully completed a gravity-assist maneuver using Earth to adjust its trajectory toward Jupiter. The mission will continue to test its instruments before arriving at the Jovian system in 2031.
Why it matters
Gravity-assist maneuvers are vital for deep-space exploration, allowing missions to reach distant planets with limited fuel supplies.
--> The European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft flew close to Earth on September 28, using the planet’s gravity to alter its trajectory on the way to Jupiter. The maneuver changed the spacecraft’s direction by 20° and increased its speed by 3.5 km/s, ScienceDaily reports .
Juice made its closest approach to Earth at 13:45 Central European Summer Time, or 11:45 UTC. At that moment, the spacecraft passed at an altitude of 8,640 km above the Indian Ocean and took a series of images using its onboard monitoring cameras.
During the four weeks before the gravity-assist maneuver, specialists carried out only one small course correction out of six planned opportunities. ESA said that precise planning made it possible to use only a small portion of the fuel reserved for this flyby. This will leave more resources for observations of Jupiter and its icy moons.
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