The European Space Agency’s Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) mission successfully completed a gravity-assist flyby of Earth on September 28, 2026, propelling it closer to Jupiter. This maneuver significantly altered Juice’s trajectory and increased its speed, setting it on a path for a subsequent Earth flyby in 2029.
During the flyby, Juice captured stunning images of Earth, highlighting Africa and the island of Madagascar, with a glimpse of the Moon as a tiny grey dot nearby. Juice is expected to reach Jupiter in 2031 to commence its primary mission of exploring the planet and its icy moons for signs of potential life.
Gravity-assist flybys, a technique first utilized during the Soviet Luna 3 mission in 1959, allow spacecraft to leverage a planet’s gravity to change their speed and direction without expending fuel. Juice’s recent flyby resulted in a noteworthy speed boost of 3.5 km/s, equating to 12,000 km/h.
This flyby was not Juice’s first; it had previously conducted a Venus flyby in August 2025 and a twin Earth-Moon flyby in August 2024. With another Earth flyby scheduled for January 2029, the ESA mission team continues to prepare meticulously for future navigational challenges. The successful completion of this flyby not only conserves fuel for the mission but also allows scientists to ensure that the spacecraft’s instruments are fully operational before the main mission commences.
