In 'world's first', ESA's 'Juice' spacecraft set to attempt first-ever Moon-Earth flyby on route to Jupiter

A European Space Agency(ESA) led spacecraft, with the mission to explore Jupiter and its three icy moons, will on August 19 fly extremely close to the moon and a day later past the Earth itself.

According to ESA, it’s a double world first. The first-ever lunar-Earth flyby, and the first-ever double gravity assist manoeuvre. It will change Juice’s speed and direction to alter its course through space, but it’s a daring feat; the slightest mistake could take Juice off course and spell the end of the mission.

"During the flyby, Earth will bend Juice’s trajectory through space, ‘braking’ it and redirecting it on course for a flyby of Venus in August 2025."" From that moment on, the energy boosts will begin, with Juice being whizzed up by Venus and then twice by Earth – the space exploration equivalent of drinking three back-to-back espressos," ESA said.

Jupiter is on average ‘just’ 800 million km away from Earth. Without an enormous rocket, sending Juice straight to the giant planet would require an impossible 60 000 kg of onboard propellant. And then Juice would need to be carrying an enormous additional amount of propellant to slow itself down enough to go into orbit around Jupiter once it arrives, rather than simply zipping straight past and off into outer space.