Spacecraft to swing by Earth, Moon on path to Jupiter

Paris: A spacecraft launched last year will slingshot back around Earth and the Moon next month in a high stakes, world first manoeuvre as it pinballs...

Paris: A spacecraft launched last year will slingshot back around Earth and the Moon next month in a high-stakes, world-first manoeuvre as it pinballs its way through the Solar System to Jupiter.

The European Space Agency's Juice probe blasted off in April 2023 on a mission to discover whether Jupiter's icy moons Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa are capable of hosting extra-terrestrial life in their vast, hidden oceans.

The uncrewed six-tonne spacecraft is currently 10 million kilometres (six million miles) from Earth.

But it will fly back past the Moon then Earth on August 19-20, using their gravity boosts to save fuel on its winding, eight-year odyssey to Jupiter.

Staff at the ESA's space operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany began preparing for the complicated manoeuvre this week.