JUICE spacecraft on it's journey to Jupiter will pass by Earth and the Moon

Jupiter and its moons (Representative Image - Canva)

European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) which was launched on April 2023, will pass by Earth and the Moon next month on August 20, 2024, while on its journey to the gas giant Jupiter.

This spacecraft was tasked to observe and study the moons of Jupiter Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. JUICE will make the closest approach to Earth within 4,200 miles (6,800 kilometres) at 5:57 p.m. ET (21:57 GMT).

Currently, it is at a distance of 10 km from Earth, and by using the gravitation force of the Moon and Earth to conserve the fuel to do a long journey to the gas giant the mission will last long to around 8 years.

This mission is to know the three moons that are of particular interest to scientists because they are believed to have significant bodies of liquid water beneath their frozen surfaces, which could potentially harbour extraterrestrial life.

It is predicted that the spacecraft will reach the Jupiter system in July 2031. This long route taken by the JUICE is due to it was not designed to launch directly to Jupiter as the rocket of this spacecraft was not powerful enough to be launched to 800 million kilometres.

The European Space Agency made JUICE take the help of two gravity assistants, Earth and the Moon, making it the first ever to do this and this will give a huge push to the spacecraft towards its aim to reach in the system of the gas giant.

This whole thing was planned by the team at ESA's space operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany.  Arnaud Boutonnet, the ESA's head of analysis for the mission, explained that "The only solution is to use gravitational assists."

It is calculated by scientists that the JUICE speed will increase by the Moon's gravitational force around 3.3 kilometres per second which without assistance was 3 kilometres.

During its closer proximity to the Earth, it will capture photos, test its instrument and do observations.  According to Boutonnet the Moon shot of the spacecraft can be risky if the Earth's gravity hurts it and it will put the JUICE in danger.

The scientist team on Earth will continuously keep calculating the trajectory of the spacecraft to prevent any risk, and in the future, JUICE will also get assistance from Venus in 2025 and will fly by the Earth in 2026 and then again in 2029.

According to Boutonnet, the JUICE will get around 35 gravitational assistance during its interstellar exploration from the cosmic objects. Europe’s JUICE probe set for a close encounter with Earth before journeying to Jupiter.