The JUICE spacecraft launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) last year is returning for a fly by next month.

Short for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, the Jupiter-bound probe will require a gravity assist from Earth. This, ESA says, would reduce the amount of fuel needed for the trip to the outer solar system.

Is #ESAJuice returning to Earth? 🤔

This August, Juice will be performing a nerve-racking lunar-Earth flyby, the first of its kind ever attempted.

The spacecraft will swing past the Moon and then past Earth almost 24 hours later, a manoeuvre that will boost the efficiency of… pic.twitter.com/vFZ1l5m2u3 — ESA's Juice mission (@ESA_JUICE) July 5, 2024

According to ESA, JUICE will perform the first 'lunar-Earth gravity assist' (LEGA) on August 19-20. It will be just a few hundred kilometres from the Moon's surface and make a close flyby of Earth from a few thousand kilometres 24 hours later.

This is the first time in human history that a spacecraft is approaching Earth for a gravity assist. There are two more LEGA planned for September 2026 and January 2029.

"Using the gravity of the Moon to fine tune the much larger gravity assist at Earth will boost the efficiency of Juice’s journey, but the double flyby requires ultra-precise spacecraft operations," the agency said in a statement.

The LEGA process began on June 24 and the spacecraft operations and science teams are preparing for the key maneuver. The craft will also take pictures of the Earth and the Moon during the flyby.

JUICE launched on April 14, 2023 and it will reach Jupiter in July 2031. When its operations begin, the probe will spend four years investigating Jupiter and its three largest moons - Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.

The mission objective includes exploring the potential habitability, activities and environments of the ocean-bearing moons and characterising Jupiter’s atmosphere, magnetic environment, ring system and other moons including Io - the most volacanically active world in the solar system.