The European Space Agency said its Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, known as Juice, successfully completed a gravity assist flyby of Earth on 28 September 2026, passing just 8640 km above the Indian Ocean. On 1 October the agency published a 48-second video assembled from images the spacecraft captured during the encounter.
What happened
According to ESA, flight controllers guided Juice close to Earth to increase its velocity by 3.5 km/s and to deflect its trajectory by an angle of 20 degrees.
The closest approach took the spacecraft 8640 km above the Indian Ocean, the agency said. Juice continued to image Earth as it departed, with a final view captured on 29 September.
The cameras behind the images
ESA said Juice's monitoring cameras provide 1024 x 1024 pixel snapshots that can be processed in colour. Their main purpose is to monitor the spacecraft's various booms and antennas, especially during the challenging period after launch.
The agency described the photos of Earth taken during the flyby as a bonus rather than a primary objective of the instruments.
What the video shows
In the first seconds of the video, ESA said, a view from monitoring camera JMC2 shows Earth as a thin crescent at the bottom right of the frame. Around 10 seconds in, the sequence switches to JMC1, with almost the entire disc of Earth visible at the top right.
The large land mass in view is Africa, and the Moon appears as a tiny grey dot to Earth's right, according to the agency. The material is credited to ESA/Juice/JMC with an acknowledgement to Simeon Schmauß, and is published under a CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence.
Key facts and where they come from
- Juice completed an Earth gravity assist flyby on 28 September 2026.
On 28 September 2026, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) successfully completed a gravity assist flyby of Earth.
- The manoeuvre added 3.5 km/s to the spacecraft's velocity and bent its path by 20 degrees.
increase its velocity by 3.5 km/s and deflect its trajectory by an angle of 20°
- Closest approach was 8640 km above the Indian Ocean.
As Juice flew just 8640 km above the Indian Ocean, it snapped a series of images with its onboard monitoring cameras
- The monitoring cameras produce 1024 x 1024 pixel images and exist mainly to watch booms and antennas.
Juice’s monitoring cameras provide 1024 x 1024 pixel snapshots that can be processed in colour. Their main purpose is to monitor the spacecraft’s various booms and antennas
- The video includes a final view of Earth taken on 29 September as Juice departed.
JMC1 gives us a final view of Earth in the distance as it flies away on 29 September