Juice flies past Earth to adjust course for Jupiter

The European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft flew past Earth on 28 September, using the planet’s gravity to alter its course towards Jupiter. Its closest approach was 8,640 km above the Indian Ocean at 11:45 UTC. [1]

ESA says the flyby turned Juice’s path by 20 degrees and increased its speed by 3.5 km/s. Controllers made just one small course correction in the four weeks beforehand, although they had set aside six opportunities. Angela Dietz, Juice’s spacecraft operations manager, said the flyby used only a small amount of the propellant reserved for it, leaving more available for observations at Jupiter. [1]

Juice’s monitoring cameras took pictures during the pass. The flyby also gave its science instruments an opportunity to make observations, including in Earth’s magnetotail — the part of its magnetic field that stretches away from the Sun. ESA expects to publish images and spectra from some instruments after scientists have evaluated them. [1]