Europe’s Juice probe on its way to Jupiter has successfully swung by the moon for a “gravity assist”, much to the relief of the European Space Agency (ESA) and a team of astrophysicists at Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS).
There was no time to relax during Tuesday as they were preparing for another high-risk fly-by of Earth due just before midnight. The manoeuvres require accurate navigation as the smallest mistake could take the spacecraft off course and doom the mission, the ESA said.
They will set the probe on course for a similar encounter with Venus in August 2025, which will then slingshot the spacecraft out toward the giant planet where it is due to arrive by July 2031. DIAS equipment monitors its trajectory to ensure it remains on the correct course.
The first fly-by was recorded in a live web cast and ESA released of photos to commemorate the historic encounter. Juice (short for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) came within a mere 750km of the lunar surface.
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“Actually, this fly-by is a braking manoeuvre, so we do not accelerate Juice, in the sense of gaining speed relative to the sun,” said Ignacio Tanco, Juice’s spacecraft operations manager during the webcast.
[ Juice mission to Jupiter to undertake high risk fly-by of Earth and MoonOpens in new window ]
“What we found is that by following this sequence of first Earth and then Venus, we manage to save about half a year of cruise time and arrive to Jupiter around July 2031,” he said. “This sort of counterintuitive approach of braking first, in fact, results ultimately in the shortest possible cruise phase.”
Prof Caitríona Jackman of DIAS Planetary Magnetospheres Group said: “It’s always great when things go to plan. We had a lot of confidence in the flight dynamics team. It’s a good first step.”
A total of 10 DIAS monitoring instruments were deployed for four hours in advance of the fly-by and for four hours afterwards.
Over coming days, she said they would be evaluating how the equipment performed. “This is to ensure calibration is right, because when you get to Jupiter, the stakes are high.”
When there Juice will begin exploration of two of the giant planet’s moons, Europa and Ganymede, in a bid to find signs of life that may lurk in their ice-covered oceans.
In a recent briefing ESA highlighted the role of gravity in propelling Juice. “Gravity will be a fickle friend, giving regular pulses along the way, yet threatening derailment at any time,” it said.
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