Europe's most advanced interplanetary space probe lost contact with Earth for nearly a full day leading up to a crucial flyby of Venus that will occur on Sunday (Aug. 31).
The European Space Agency's (ESA) JUICE spacecraft launched atop an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana in April 2023. The probe is bound for the Jupiter system, where it will study the gas giant and three of its four big Galilean moons — Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.
