Jupiter mission is planning first fly-by with the help of earth and moon gravity

Next week the probe Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) will fly past the moon and the earth, on its way to space, as part of a bold and previously not attempted double-fly maneuver.

The mission of the European Space Organization (ESA) is one year after the beginning of its complex eight-year trip and will finally visit three of the moons of Jupiter . The probe will use the gravity of the earth, the moon and Venus to achieve Jupiter with as little fuel as possible.

On August 19 and 20, the mission will fly past the moon and the earth in a row and the first double gravitational maneuver will be carried out at all. Juice will first reach the moon, use the appeal of the moon to slow down and change the course, and then swing the earth a day later to change its speed and direction. There is no plan to adapt the trajectory between the flights.

The moon is usually regarded as a fault that has to be taken into account when space probes are thrown around the earth, but the use of its attraction can save fuel. The technique of moon gravitational support, combined with the time of the start of Juice in April of last year, will be sufficient to save enough fuel so that the probe can circle the Jupitermond Ganymed in just 200 kilometers at the end of the 2035 mission. "This is a great news about science," said Juice mission analyst Arnaud Boutonnet from the ESA European Space Operations Center (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, at a press conference last Friday.

The double gravitational support process is risky because every flight will increase errors in the trajectory of the spacecraft. "It is like passing through a very tight corridor, very, very quickly: to press the accelerator to the maximum if the edge of the road is only millimeter," said the mission manager for spacecraft business, Ignacio Tanco from the ESOC. But the maneuver near the home will be an opportunity to test whether the scientific instruments of Juice work as planned as planned in an environment that is well known to the researchers, said Claire Vallat, company specialist for the mission at the ESA in Madrid. "This is a unique opportunity to study these instruments."

The circular route of the spacecraft is planned. The earth moon ahead of Juice will slow down and distract his course on a shortening path to Venus. Juice will gain energy when it swings around Venus and two more gravitational support from Earth - in 2026 and 2029 - will finally catapult the spacecraft to Jupiter.