Darmstadt (dpa) – The world’s first lunar-Earth flyby within one day has been a success. The European Space Agency (ESA) in Darmstadt reported that its Juice explorer flew across Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean at an altitude of just 6,840 kilometres, took pictures with its onboard monitoring cameras and collected scientific data with eight of its ten instruments. The manoeuvre, which was coordinated by the control centre in Darmstadt, apparently went flawlessly and without a hitch. This saved the mission around 100 to 150 kilograms of fuel, meaning that Juice can now get closer to Jupiter’s moon Ganymede than originally planned. The objective of the flyby was to use the gravity of the Moon and the Earth to accelerate the spacecraft. From 2031, Juice is to explore Jupiter’s moons Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. Germany has already contributed numerous instruments to this international mission.
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