Europes Juice spacecraft has completed the worlds first lunar-Earth flyby.
The route will provide a shortcut to Jupiter through the inner Solar System.
Juice made it closest approach to the Moon at 23:15 CEST on August 19.
Gravitational forces then guided the spacecraft towards a closest approach to Earth at 23:56 CEST the next day.
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The Moon flyby first accelerated Juice by 0.9km/s relative to the Sun.
The Earth flyby then reduced that speed by 4.8km/s.
Over the entire flyby, the spacecraft was deflected by an angle of 100 compared to its prior trajectory.
Juice is now on course to meet Venus in August 2025.
Its slated to arrive there in July 2031.
Juice willthen studythree of Jupiters 92 known moons: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
