Juice team resolves anomaly on approach to Venus

Written by Copernical Team Monday, 25 August 2025 09:00

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The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) is on track for its gravity-assist flyby at Venus on 31 August, following the successful resolution of a spacecraft communication anomaly that temporarily severed contact with Earth.

The issue, which emerged during a routine ground station pass on 16 July, temporarily disrupted Juice’s ability to transmit information about its health and status (telemetry).

Thanks to swift and coordinated action by the teams at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, and Juice’s manufacturer, Airbus, communication was restored in time to prepare for the upcoming planetary encounter.

All clear for the Venus flyby

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Juice’s flyby of Venus (close-up)
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Despite the high stakes and technical complexity, the recovery by ESA’s mission operations team was achieved with minimal disruption.

“This was a textbook example of teamwork under pressure,” said Angela. “Thanks to the team’s calm and methodical approach, we were able to recover Juice without any lasting impact on the mission.”

With the anomaly behind them, the Juice team returned their focus to preparations for the Venus flyby. Juice will pass its closest point to Venus at 07:28 CEST on Sunday, 31 August as it completes the second of four planned gravity assists.

Designed for the cold, dark environment of Jupiter, Juice must adapt to the intense solar heat near Venus. To protect its sensitive components, the spacecraft is using its main, high-gain antenna as a thermal shield. Due to thermal constraints, its remote sensing instruments cannot be active during the flyby, and so no images of Venus will be captured.