ESA's JUICE spacecraft set to attempt first-ever lunar-Earth flyby on route to Jupiter

The agency says it is attempting a "double-world first" – the first-ever lunar-Earth flyby and the first-ever double gravity assist manoeuvre.

Transcript

00:00What are Gravity Assists?

00:08What are Gravity Assists?

00:10This is a technique that is used in planetary exploration in order to get to targets that

00:19are far away and for which you wouldn't have enough propellant to go directly or if you

00:24don't have a powerful enough rocket to go there directly.

00:26So you need the gravitational assist or pull from the planets to help you getting enough

00:32energy and being able to fly up to Jupiter in the case of Juice.

00:36What is the importance of Gravity Assists?

00:45For the Earth and the Moon, the important takeaway is that this is the very first time

00:51we are doing a double Gravity Assist.

00:53So one day we fly by the Moon and the next day we fly by Earth in order to get to Venus.

01:23you