ESAs Juice spacecraft performed a vital maneuver to align for an Earth-Moon gravity help in 2024, part of its eight-year mission to Jupiter. Juice will start its science mission about six months prior to getting in orbit around Jupiter in 2031, making observations as it approaches its location. As soon as in the Jovian system and in orbit around Jupiter, a series of further gravity-assist flybys Ganymede will help Juice decrease its orbital energy as required. On its journey to Jupiter, Juice will make a series of flybys of Earth, the Earth-Moon system and Venus to set it on course for its July 2031 rendezvous in the Jovian system.Juice will make 3 Earth flybys throughout its cruise: one of the Earth-Moon system in August 2024, one of Earth in September 2026, and as soon as again one of Earth in January 2029. Juice will go on to invest lots of months orbiting Jupiter, making 35 flybys of icy moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, and lastly conducting an orbital tour of Ganymede.Credit: ESA
ESAs Juice spacecraft carried out a crucial maneuver to line up for an Earth-Moon gravity assist in 2024, part of its eight-year mission to Jupiter. The maneuver is an essential action in a fuel-efficient trajectory that consists of further planetary flybys, aiming to study Jupiters moons upon arrival in 2031. This illustration portrays ESAs Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) approaching Earth. Credit: ESA/Lightcurve Films/R. Andres
On November 17, 2023, ESAs Juice spacecraft performed one of the largest and essential maneuvers in its eight-year journey to Jupiter.
Using its primary engine, Juice changed its orbit around the Sun to put itself on the correct trajectory for next summer seasons Earth-Moon double gravity assist– the very first of its kind.
The maneuver lasted 43 minutes and burned nearly 10% of the spacecrafts whole fuel reserve. Its the first part of a two-part maneuver that could mark the final time that Juices main engine is used till its arrival in the Jupiter system in 2031.
Mission to Jupiter Picks Up Speed
ESAs Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) launched from Europes spaceport in French Guiana on April 14, 2023.
Its on an objective to make comprehensive observations of the huge gas world and its 3 large, ocean-bearing moons– Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa.
Juice will not begin its investigations into the nature and possible habitability of the Jupiter system until its arrival in 2031.
Propulsion: lift-off, orbit changes, and traveling through area Credit: ESA/S. Berna
Why does it take so long to get to Jupiter? Well, the brief answer is that it has less to do with the range in between Earth and Jupiter and more to do with combating the Suns huge gravitational pull as you venture outwards through the Solar System.
Objectives to the giant gas planets, such as Juice, Europa Clipper, Galileo, or Juno, would be bit more than huge fuel tanks if they needed to store all the energy required to get rid of the Suns gravity on their own.
Instead, they use gravity-assist or flyby maneuvers to acquire energy by swinging through the strong gravitational fields of numerous worlds en route.
Shooting for the Moon
Juices first increase will come from its home planet, when it returns to Earth in August 2024, more than one year after launch.
In fact, in a first-of-its-kind flyby, Juice will first pass by the Moon to give it an extra kick and make the flyby of Earth that takes place 1.5 days later even more reliable.
Simulation of Juices Lunar-Earth Gravity Assist. Credit: ESA/Lightcurve Films/R. Andres
Even with this additional boost, to get the most out of the gravity help, Juice has to show up at the Earth-Moon system at precisely the correct time, at the right speed, and traveling in the correct instructions.
Thats where todays maneuver can be found in.
On November 17, at 16:10 (CET), Juices primary engine performed a burn that lasted roughly 43 minutes.
” This maneuver used up roughly 363 kg of fuel– or nearly precisely 10% of the 3650kg of fuel that Juice introduced with,” says Julia Schwartz, Flight Dynamics Engineer at ESAs ESOC objective control center in Germany.
This is Juices biggest manoeuvre so far. Up until today, Juice had actually just used roughly 10 kg of fuel– mostly as part of a series of short burns utilized to help release its stuck RIME antenna.
” It was the first part of a two-part maneuver to put Juice on the appropriate trajectory for next summertimes encounter with Earth and the Moon. This very first burn did 95% of the work, altering Juices speed by nearly 200 m/s,” adds Julia.
” Juice is one of the heaviest interplanetary spacecraft ever introduced, with a total mass of around 6000 kg, so it took a great deal of force and a lot of fuel to attain this.”
” In a couple of weeks, as soon as weve evaluated Juices brand-new orbit, we will perform the second, much smaller second part of the maneuver. Splitting the maneuver into 2 parts permits us to utilize the second firing of the engine to iron out any errors of the first.”
An extra, much smaller sized maneuver using Juices smaller thrusters might be brought out in May 2024 for the last fine-tuning during the approach to Earth.
Juice maneuver lines it up for the 2024 Earth-Moon flyby. Credit: ESA
Last use of the main engine till 2031
For a mission on an eight-year journey, burning 10% of your fuel reserve in just 43 minutes may appear insane. However investing all that fuel now will pay off for years to come.
” If all goes well with both parts of this maneuver, we likely wont need to use the main engine again till we get in orbit around Jupiter in 2031,” says Ignacio Tanco, Juice Spacecraft Operations Manager. “For small trajectory corrections between now and then, we will use Juices smaller sized thrusters.”
But that does not imply absolutely nothing intriguing will take place in between now and Juices arrival at Jupiter. Quite the opposite, the journey is interesting since it enables Juice to get all the method to Jupiter without shooting of its main engine again, reducing the quantity of fuel the spacecraft requires and permitting it to be packed filled with clinical instruments.
Juice will begin its science mission about six months prior to getting in orbit around Jupiter in 2031, making observations as it approaches its location. It makes a first flyby of Ganymede a couple of hours before Jupiter orbit insertion. Once in the Jovian system and in orbit around Jupiter, a series of additional gravity-assist flybys Ganymede will assist Juice minimize its orbital energy as needed. Credit: ESA/Lightcurve Films/R. Andres
After the Earth-Moon double flyby of 2024 (understood as a Lunar-Earth Gravity Assist; LEGA), Juice will initially make one flyby of Venus in 2025 and two more flybys of Earth in 2026 and 2029 (both without the additional increase from the Moon).
” Todays maneuver will make sure Juice gets here at the Earth-Moon system at the correct time next year for the double flyby,” includes Ignacio.
” And, thanks to the smart trajectory created by our Mission Analysis group, that flyby will line it up practically completely for all of the others, without us needing to fire the main engine once again.”
With each flyby, the spacecraft will gain more energy than might be achieved by burning a sensible amount of fuel– energy that will assist it climb up towards Jupiter versus the pull of the Suns gravity.
On its journey to Jupiter, Juice will make a series of flybys of Earth, the Earth-Moon system and Venus to set it on course for its July 2031 rendezvous in the Jovian system.Juice will make 3 Earth flybys throughout its cruise: one of the Earth-Moon system in August 2024, among Earth in September 2026, and as soon as again one of Earth in January 2029. In total Juice will spend roughly 8 years cruising to Jupiter. It will reach Jupiter in July 2031, however will currently start making clinical observations six months before going into orbit around Jupiter. Juice will go on to spend lots of months orbiting Jupiter, making 35 flybys of icy moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, and lastly carrying out an orbital tour of Ganymede.Credit: ESA
” It was extremely crucial that we carry out this maneuver today. Otherwise, the cost– just how much fuel we would require to burn to reach the new orbit we require– would begin to soar dramatically,” states Ignacio.
Todays burn likewise provided the teams the chance to ensure Juices main engine is working correctly. It was first checked soon after launch, but it until today, it had not been utilized for such a big maneuver out in deep space.
” There were some things that we couldnt evaluate previously now. For example, we just had a price quote for how the liquid in the fuel tanks will walk around as the spacecraft accelerates. This is extremely essential to understand precisely, because if the fuel behaves in a different way to how we expect, it could trigger the spacecraft to wander off course throughout the burn. We are keeping an eye on carefully.”
Artists impression of the Juice mission checking out the Jupiter system. Credit: spacecraft: ESA/ATG medialab; Jupiter: NASA/ESA/J. Nichols (University of Leicester); Ganymede: NASA/JPL; Io: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona; Callisto and Europa: NASA/JPL/DLR
Next Stop: Jupiter!
The next time that Juice will absolutely have to fire its primary engine is during its Jupiter Orbit Insertion in 2031. This is the single essential maneuver that the groups at ESOC will supervise.
Simply 13 hours after visiting Ganymede and going into the Jupiter system, the spacecraft will need to decrease by about 1 km/s– five times the change in speed accomplished today.
“That makes todays maneuver also a crucial test for Jupiter insertion– the quicker we understand if we have any concerns with the primary engine, the better,” states Ignacio.
Once in orbit around the gas giant, Juice can start its expedition of the Jupiter system. Groups at ESOC will steer Juice through a series of 35 flybys of the ocean moons. Where as soon as flybys were an annual occurrence, at Jupiter they will be brought out as often as once every two weeks.
These close-ups of the icy moons will enable the spacecraft and scientists in the world to collect the information needed to much better comprehend these strange alien worlds.