JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer)
ESA · Jupiter (Ganymede, Callisto, Europa)
ESA's Jupiter-bound explorer swung past Earth on 28 September 2026 and gained 3.5 km/s. Arrival at Jupiter comes in July 2031.
At a glance
- Phase
- cruise
- Operator
- ESA
- Destination
- Jupiter (Ganymede, Callisto, Europa)
- Next milestone
- Final Earth flyby in January 2029, which puts Juice on its last track to Jupiter, with arrival in July 2031
- Last verified
- 2 October 2026
Where it stands
In cruise after its Earth gravity assist on 28 September 2026: closest approach came at 11:45 UTC, 8,640 km above the Indian Ocean, and ESA says the flyby turned Juice's path by 20° and added 3.5 km/s on its way to Jupiter.
The mission
JUICE launched on 14 April 2023 and has completed its lunar-Earth flyby (August 2024) and Venus flyby (August 2025), after the team resolved an anomaly on the Venus approach. ESA's stories from February to April 2026 describe the spacecraft's rare observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS made with its science and navigation cameras. On 28 September 2026 Juice flew 8,640 km above the Indian Ocean at 11:45 UTC; ESA reports that the flyby deflected it by 20° from its pre-flyby path and raised its velocity by 3.5 km/s, after operators needed a single small trim in the four weeks before. A final Earth flyby follows in January 2029 before arrival at Jupiter in July 2031 for 35 flybys of the icy moons.
Related
Sources
- esa.int · https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Juice/Successful_Earth_flyby_improves_Juice_s_course_to_Jupiter
- esa.int · https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Juice/Juice_to_fly_past_Earth_for_third_gravity_assist
- esa.int · https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Juice
- cosmos.esa.int · https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/juice/mission-calendar