Science & Exploration
Juice flies past Earth in September 2026 – 2D view
ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) will return to Earth on 28 September, with flight controllers guiding the spacecraft close to our home planet to alter its speed and direction en route to Jupiter.
The flyby will deflect the trajectory of the spacecraft by about 20 degrees and increase its velocity by about 3.5 km/s. The closest approach will be over the Indian Ocean at 13:45 CEST (11:45 UTC).
Between 15 and 30 minutes before closest approach, Juice will pass over Australia, travelling from the northeast of the country to the northwest. Amateur astronomers using the right telescope or binocular equipment may be able to track it. Trajectory data can be found here.
