ESA’s Juice spacecraft completes third gravity‑assist manoeuvre

The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) has completed its third gravity‑assist, altering its trajectory by about 20 degrees and adding roughly 3.5 km s⁻¹ to its speed.

The manoeuvre, carried out earlier this week, is part of the eight‑year journey that began with an Ariane 5 launch in April 2023 and is aimed at reaching Jupiter in 2031. Juice will study the gas giant’s three icy Galilean moons – Ganymede, Europa and Callisto – to search for ingredients necessary for life, such as liquid water and possible energy sources.

Dr Mika Holmberg of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, part of a 2,000‑person Irish team supporting the mission, said the spacecraft’s instruments, including gravity‑measurement tools and ice‑penetrating radars, will help confirm habitability on these moons.

When it arrives, Juice will perform numerous flybys of Ganymede, the mission’s primary scientific target, before entering orbit around the moon. It will also conduct two close flybys of Europa at 400 m altitude and a 200 m pass of Callisto, before ending its mission with a planned impact on Ganymede’s surface in 2035.

The mission involves 18 research institutes and 83 companies from 23 countries, with contributions from NASA and JAXA, and marks the first European‑led venture to the outer solar system.

Source: Silicon Republic. Photo: SpaceX / Pexels.