From launch to lunar-Earth flyby | The journey of Juice (episode 1)
ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice), is on an epic eight-year journey to Jupiter. This first episode of ‘The journey of Juice’ tells the story of Juice’s first months in space, from its launch on 14 April 2023 to its lunar-Earth gravity assist (LEGA for short) in August 2024. This flyby was not only the first double gravity assist manoeuvre of its kind, it was also a perfect opportunity to test out the spacecraft’s cameras and science instruments.
In this episode, Juice’s Mission Manager Nicolas Altobelli explains how the spacecraft will become the first ever human-made machine to orbit a moon of another planet, in this case Jupiter’s largest moon Ganymede.
You’ll also hear from Claire Vallat and Marc Costa at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) near Madrid, Spain. Juice will perform incredibly complex measurements once it reaches Jupiter, and the Science Operations team at ESAC is making sure we get the most out of every instrument.
Meanwhile, the Flight Control team at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, makes sure Juice is and stays on the right path. This episode shows what happened ‘behind the scenes’ before and during the lunar-Earth flyby, and stars Ignacio Tanco, Angela Dietz and members of the Juice Flight Control team as they do what they do best.
Finally, we highlight the ESA tracking station network (Estrack), another crucial component for Juice. Maintenance and Operations Engineer Belén Goméz gives a tour of the facility at Cebreros.
Following the very successful lunar-Earth flyby, Juice is now on its way to planet Venus for its next flyby. On 31 August 2025, this flyby will give Juice its second gravity boost. Tune back in next year for episode two of this series!
This series follows on from ‘The making of Juice’ series, which covered the planning, testing and launch of this once-in-a-generation mission.
Credit: ESA/Lightcurve Films, original music by William Zeitler
Acknowledgments: Direction, main camera, sound, editing, post-production: Maarten Roos. Camera at Cebreros during LEGA: Mikel Larequi. LEGA timelapse: Mark McCaughrean and Simeon Schmauß. Special thanks to Marc Costa (ESA – ESAC) and Jorge Fauste (ESA – Estrack)
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Just have to point out again why ? Why does it take 3 months to test if all the equipment is working. This nonsense. And why are you fighting for more power and having to limit parts of the craft ? Why didn't you supply the craft with large enough solar panels and batteries etc so all the instruments could work together at the same time at full capacity ??? Same thing with NASA doing everything by half then blaming lack of funding. No the truth is the people building the parts and software are charging extortionate prices and because it's public money you just pay it. All of these missions should have been ready and on going years ago. The space organisations have been dragging their feet for the past 40 years. You all think you are doing this amazing job but you are not the missions are taking far too long to build and deploy. Far too many check lists and the construction has been hijacked by thieves. We should have landed on the moons around Jupiter by now and Saturn. Ridiculously slow at doing your jobs. Sick of it.
After Juice's success in the future. (I really hope), These people should be honored by the whole world for their efforts.
ESTEC