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