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Juice’s mission will make history with the first ever ‘double gravity assist’ manoeuvre, in which it will fly by the Moon and Earth in quick succession. This complex operation is being meticulously planned at ESA’s Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. The manoeuvre will help fine-tune the spacecraft’s trajectory and conserve its fuel for the long journey ahead.
While Juice’s route to Jupiter will take longer than NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, which is set to launch in October and arrive a year earlier, the extended schedule is necessary because of limitations on the Ariane 5 rocket that launched Juice. That rocket wasn’t powerful enough for a direct trip to Jupiter, roughly 500 million miles (800 million kilometers) away.
Explanation of gravitational assists
“The only solution is to use gravity assist,” explained Arnaud Boutonnet, ESA’s mission analyst. When flying close to planets, spacecraft can use their gravity to change speed and direction. This technique, although common in space missions, will be a “world first” with Juice’s flyby between Earth and the Moon, using thrusts from two successive celestial bodies.Details of the flyby
On August 19, Juice will pass within 750 kilometers (460 miles) of the Moon before speeding past Earth the next day. The Moon’s gravitational pull will boost Juice’s speed to 3.3 kilometers (2 miles) per second, compared with 3 kilometers (2 miles) per second (1.9 miles) without assistance. During the flyby, Juice will take photographs and test its many instruments; amateur astronomers in Southeast Asia may be able to spot the spacecraft with telescopes or binoculars.
Challenges and precautions
This maneuver, which has been in preparation for years, is not without its difficulties. “We are aiming for a mouse hole,” Boutonnet stressed, noting that even a small error during the launch to the Moon could be amplified by Earth’s gravity, putting the safety of the spacecraft at risk. The ground team will have a time window of 12 to 18 hours to calculate and adjust Juice’s trajectory if necessary.
If successful, Juice will continue its journey through interplanetary space, performing another gravity assist at Venus in 2025 and flying by Earth twice more in 2026 and 2029 before finally heading to Jupiter. Once there, Juice will perform 35 gravity assists as it cruises around Jupiter’s ocean moons, on a trajectory that will resemble “a real bowl of spaghetti,” according to Boutonnet.
This mission represents a significant advance in space exploration and paves the way for future spacecraft to use gravity assists more creatively and effectively. The success of Juice’s mission could provide valuable information about the potential for life on other celestial bodies and demonstrate innovative techniques in space travel.
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