Juice spacecraft in front of Earth. Image: ESA
The manoeuvre is part of Europe’s Juice mission and includes work from an Irish research group.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is taking its Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission on a shortcut with a ‘world-first’ lunar-Earth flyby manoeuvre.
The move will be the first of four gravity assist manoeuvres that will put Juice on the right path to arrive at Jupiter with the correct speed and direction in July 2031.
According to the ESA, this will be the first-ever lunar-Earth flyby and the first-ever double gravity assist manoeuvre.
The flyby will allow Juice to use the gravity of the moon and then the Earth to bend Juice’s trajectory through space, ‘braking’ it and redirecting it on course for a flyby of Venus in August 2025.
However, the space agency has warned that it’s a “daring feat” and that the slightest mistake could take Juice off course and put an end to its mission.
Juice was launched in April 2023 to conduct detailed observations of Jupiter and its moons. The mission will investigate the potential for alien life – but it has to get there first.
The slingshot manoeuvre which will act as a shortcut to the planet, will see Juice fly past the moon tonight (19 August), and past Earth tomorrow. It will be at its closest to Earth around 11pm Irish time on 20 August.
Infographic with Juice’s trajectory. Click to enlarge. Image: ESA
Experts from Ireland
A team of three researchers from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) will play a key role in Juice’s flyby attempt. Prof Caitriona Jackman, Dr Mika Holmberg and Dr Hans Huybrighs are all members of the DIAS Planetary Magnetospheres Group, which is the only Irish research group involved in the mission.
Jackman said the team will be watching the “extremely challenging undertaking” with trepidation. “This is the first step in Juice’s journey through the solar system on its way to Jupiter,” she said. “It’s a journey that requires perfect accuracy and in-depth planning.”
The lunar-Earth flyby will allow the research team to test their ideas about the spacecraft’s behaviour in the environment of a moon, in preparation for the flybys of Jupiter’s moons.
“The encounter of Earth’s moon is a practice-run for when we get to Jupiter, where we will study moons with underground oceans that might support life. I’m extremely proud of the work carried out by our research group so far, and that we can be part of such an important mission,” Jackson added.
The Irish research team will explore how Juice itself affects the measurement of particles using an advanced computer model. Holmberg said the results the lunar-Earth flyby will influence the team’s research going forward and could change their understanding of where the moon particles come from.
“The computer simulations account for the environment of the spacecraft and models how the moon particles will be affected, so that we can correct potential misleading effects for later in the mission,” she said.
“When Juice flies by the moon we have the first opportunity to test our correction techniques during an actual moon encounter, which is exciting. It’s the perfect opportunity for us to calibrate our instruments and smooth out any remaining issues, and who knows what it could lead to!”
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