Juice Gains 3.5 km/s in Earth Flyby as ESA Saves Fuel for 2031 Jupiter Arrival
Updated
Updated · European Space Agency · Sep 28
Juice Gains 3.5 km/s in Earth Flyby as ESA Saves Fuel for 2031 Jupiter Arrival
3 articles · Updated · European Space Agency · Sep 28
Summary
Juice skimmed 8,640 km above the Indian Ocean at 11:45 UTC on Sept. 28, using Earth’s gravity to bend its course by 20° and add 3.5 km/s toward Jupiter.
One tiny correction burn in the four weeks before the pass was enough to place the spacecraft on its exact approach, leaving more reserved propellant available for science operations once it reaches Jupiter.
The flyby also served as a calibration run for Juice’s 10 instruments, including measurements in Earth’s magnetotail and images from onboard cameras; ESA expects to release evaluated images and spectra in coming weeks.
ESA will keep tracking the probe closely until Oct. 10, with one final Earth flyby due in January 2029 before Juice heads for Jupiter arrival in 2031 and later 35 moon flybys.