{"id":62677,"date":"2024-08-21T08:11:23","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T08:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/f978e771-3ebd-4701-8d1c-62d6b9f5fa0a"},"modified":"2024-08-21T08:41:02","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T08:41:02","slug":"juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby\/","title":{"rendered":"Juice spacecraft captures images of our home planet during the first ever Earth-Moon flyby"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Iain Todd\n <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 21 August 2024 at 08:11 AM<\/p>

\n\n

The European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft has successfully completed the first ever Moon-Earth flyby on its way to Jupiter.<\/p>

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer<\/a> made its close approach to the Moon at 21:15 UTC on 19 August, before making a close approach whizzing past Earth at 21:56 UTC on 20 August.<\/p>

Juice’s 2024 Earth-Moon flyby<\/a> was a key moment for the mission.<\/p>

Illustration showing the ESA Juice mission flying by Earth. Credit: ESA<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Juice flew 6,840km above Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, capturing images of Earth and our Moon with its onboard cameras, recording data with its scientific instruments.<\/p>
The move was part of a gravity-assist manoeuvre to reroute the Juice spacecraft’s journey through space on its way to Jupiter.<\/p>
This is a common technique used to navigate planetary probes across the Solar System to reach their destination.<\/p>
Flying directly from Earth to another planet in the Solar System, then effectively ‘braking’ to enter orbit around that planet, would consume too much fuel.<\/p>
Instead, flybys of other Solar System bodies are used to speed up, slow down or reroute a space probe.<\/p>
$\"Diagram$
Diagram showing Juice’s close approach to Earth on 20 August 2024. Click to expand. Credit: ESA<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The flyby of the Moon sped up Juice by 0.9 km\/s relative to the Sun, guiding it towards Earth.<\/p>
Then the flyby of Earth slowed down Juice by 4.8 km\/s relative to the Sun, guiding it onto a new trajectory towards Venus<\/p>
ESA says the manoeuvre was risky, but it saved the mission around 100\u2013150 kg of fuel.<\/p>
“The gravity assist flyby was flawless, everything went without a hitch, and we were thrilled to see Juice coming back so close to Earth,” says Ignacio Tanco, Spacecraft Operations Manager for the mission.<\/p>
“Thanks to very precise navigation by ESA\u2019s Flight Dynamics team, we managed to use only a tiny fraction of the propellant reserved for this flyby.<\/p>
“This will add to the margins we keep for a rainy day, or to extend the science mission once we get to Jupiter.”<\/p>
$\"Image$
Image of Earth captured by the European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft during a flyby on 20 August 2024. Click image to expand. Credit: ESA\/Juice\/JMC. Acknowledgements: Simeon Schmau\u00df & Mark McCaughrean. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Juice data on Earth and the Moon<\/strong><\/h2>
Planetary scientists can’t have a spacecraft fly by so close to Earth and the Moon without taking the opportunity to do some science!<\/p>
So while the main aim of the flyby was to alter Juice’s trajectory, the team took the opportunity to test out Juice’s science instruments.<\/p>
All ten of Juice’s instruments were switched on during the Moon flyby; 8 of those were switched on for the Earth flyby.<\/p>
ESA says more images and spectra on Earth and the Moon will be published over the next few weeks.<\/p>
$\"Image$
Image of the Moon captured by the Juice spacecraft at 21:25 UTC on 19 August 2024, soon after Juice made its closest approach to the Moon. Click image to expand. Credit: ESA\/Juice\/JMC. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence. Acknowledgements: Simeon Schmau\u00df & Mark McCaughrean<\/figcaption><\/figure>
“The timing and location of this double flyby allows us to thoroughly study the behaviour of Juice\u2019s instruments,” says Claire Vallat, Juice Operations Scientist.<\/p>
“It happens early enough in Juice\u2019s journey that we can use the data to prepare the instruments for arrival at Jupiter.<\/p>
“And given how well we know the physical properties of Earth, the Moon, and the surrounding space environment, it\u2019s also the ideal location to understand how the instruments respond to a real target.”<\/p>
$\"Image$
Image of the Moon captured by the Juice spacecraft at 21:15 UTC on 19 August 2024, soon after Juice made its closest approach to the Moon. Click image to expand. Credit: ESA\/Juice\/JMC. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence. Acknowledgements: Simeon Schmau\u00df & Mark McCaughrean<\/figcaption><\/figure>
And now for Venus<\/strong><\/h2>
Juice’s next step will be a meeting with Venus in August 2025.<\/p>
This will redirect the spacecraft towards Earth, where it will fly by our planet in September 2026 and again in January 2029: two more boosts before it arrives in orbit around Jupiter in July 2031.<\/p>
There it will begin its main mission, studying Jupiter and three of its large Galilean moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.<\/p>
These moons are targeted because they are thought to harbour subsurface oceans of liquid water.<\/p>
Water being a primary condition for life as we know it, this makes them potentially habitable worlds and a key target for planetary scientists exploring the possibility that life might exist \u2013 or might ever have existed \u2013 beyond Earth.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Iain Todd Published: Wednesday, 21 August 2024 at 08:11 AM The European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft has successfully completed the first ever Moon-Earth flyby on its way to Jupiter. The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer made its close approach to the Moon at 21:15 UTC on 19 August, before making a close approach whizzing past […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":62678,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby.jpg",1200,630,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby-300x158.jpg",300,158,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby-768x403.jpg",768,403,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby-1024x538.jpg",800,420,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby.jpg",1200,630,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby.jpg",1200,630,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Iain Todd Published: Wednesday, 21 August 2024 at 08:11 AM The European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft has successfully completed the first ever Moon-Earth flyby on its way to Jupiter. The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer made its close approach to the Moon at 21:15 UTC on 19 August, before making a close approach whizzing past…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/62677"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Illustration showing the ESA Juice mission flying by Earth. Credit: ESA<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Juice flew 6,840km above Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, capturing images of Earth and our Moon with its onboard cameras, recording data with its scientific instruments.<\/p>
The move was part of a gravity-assist manoeuvre to reroute the Juice spacecraft’s journey through space on its way to Jupiter.<\/p>
This is a common technique used to navigate planetary probes across the Solar System to reach their destination.<\/p>
Flying directly from Earth to another planet in the Solar System, then effectively ‘braking’ to enter orbit around that planet, would consume too much fuel.<\/p>
Instead, flybys of other Solar System bodies are used to speed up, slow down or reroute a space probe.<\/p>
$\"Diagram$
Diagram showing Juice’s close approach to Earth on 20 August 2024. Click to expand. Credit: ESA<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The flyby of the Moon sped up Juice by 0.9 km\/s relative to the Sun, guiding it towards Earth.<\/p>
Then the flyby of Earth slowed down Juice by 4.8 km\/s relative to the Sun, guiding it onto a new trajectory towards Venus<\/p>
ESA says the manoeuvre was risky, but it saved the mission around 100\u2013150 kg of fuel.<\/p>
“The gravity assist flyby was flawless, everything went without a hitch, and we were thrilled to see Juice coming back so close to Earth,” says Ignacio Tanco, Spacecraft Operations Manager for the mission.<\/p>
“Thanks to very precise navigation by ESA\u2019s Flight Dynamics team, we managed to use only a tiny fraction of the propellant reserved for this flyby.<\/p>
“This will add to the margins we keep for a rainy day, or to extend the science mission once we get to Jupiter.”<\/p>
$\"Image$
Image of Earth captured by the European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft during a flyby on 20 August 2024. Click image to expand. Credit: ESA\/Juice\/JMC. Acknowledgements: Simeon Schmau\u00df & Mark McCaughrean. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Juice data on Earth and the Moon<\/strong><\/h2>
Planetary scientists can’t have a spacecraft fly by so close to Earth and the Moon without taking the opportunity to do some science!<\/p>
So while the main aim of the flyby was to alter Juice’s trajectory, the team took the opportunity to test out Juice’s science instruments.<\/p>
All ten of Juice’s instruments were switched on during the Moon flyby; 8 of those were switched on for the Earth flyby.<\/p>
ESA says more images and spectra on Earth and the Moon will be published over the next few weeks.<\/p>
$\"Image$
Image of the Moon captured by the Juice spacecraft at 21:25 UTC on 19 August 2024, soon after Juice made its closest approach to the Moon. Click image to expand. Credit: ESA\/Juice\/JMC. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence. Acknowledgements: Simeon Schmau\u00df & Mark McCaughrean<\/figcaption><\/figure>
“The timing and location of this double flyby allows us to thoroughly study the behaviour of Juice\u2019s instruments,” says Claire Vallat, Juice Operations Scientist.<\/p>
“It happens early enough in Juice\u2019s journey that we can use the data to prepare the instruments for arrival at Jupiter.<\/p>
“And given how well we know the physical properties of Earth, the Moon, and the surrounding space environment, it\u2019s also the ideal location to understand how the instruments respond to a real target.”<\/p>
$\"Image$
Image of the Moon captured by the Juice spacecraft at 21:15 UTC on 19 August 2024, soon after Juice made its closest approach to the Moon. Click image to expand. Credit: ESA\/Juice\/JMC. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence. Acknowledgements: Simeon Schmau\u00df & Mark McCaughrean<\/figcaption><\/figure>
And now for Venus<\/strong><\/h2>
Juice’s next step will be a meeting with Venus in August 2025.<\/p>
This will redirect the spacecraft towards Earth, where it will fly by our planet in September 2026 and again in January 2029: two more boosts before it arrives in orbit around Jupiter in July 2031.<\/p>
There it will begin its main mission, studying Jupiter and three of its large Galilean moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.<\/p>
These moons are targeted because they are thought to harbour subsurface oceans of liquid water.<\/p>
Water being a primary condition for life as we know it, this makes them potentially habitable worlds and a key target for planetary scientists exploring the possibility that life might exist \u2013 or might ever have existed \u2013 beyond Earth.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Iain Todd Published: Wednesday, 21 August 2024 at 08:11 AM The European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft has successfully completed the first ever Moon-Earth flyby on its way to Jupiter. The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer made its close approach to the Moon at 21:15 UTC on 19 August, before making a close approach whizzing past […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":62678,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby.jpg",1200,630,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby-300x158.jpg",300,158,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby-768x403.jpg",768,403,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby-1024x538.jpg",800,420,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby.jpg",1200,630,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/08\/juice-spacecraft-captures-images-of-our-home-planet-during-the-first-ever-earth-moon-flyby.jpg",1200,630,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Iain Todd Published: Wednesday, 21 August 2024 at 08:11 AM The European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft has successfully completed the first ever Moon-Earth flyby on its way to Jupiter. The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer made its close approach to the Moon at 21:15 UTC on 19 August, before making a close approach whizzing past…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/62677"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}