ESA/JUICE encounters Earth/Moon in 2024: overview of the Moons And Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer (MAJIS) observations

Abstract. The Lunar-Earth Gravitational Assist (LEGA) of 19–20 August 2024 marked the first in-flight opportunity beyond functional checks to perform MAJIS (Moons and Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer) observations on-board the ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft. This unique double flyby involved sequential close approaches to the Moon and Earth, offering an unprecedented configuration to evaluate MAJIS under high radiance, rapidly changing geometric, and operationally constrained conditions. A total of 24 hyperspectral image cubes were acquired (5 targeting the Moon and 19 the Earth) providing a dataset of approximately 7.5 Gbit. This work presents the primary goal of this observation campaign, which was to verify key aspects of MAJIS performance, including radiometric and spectral calibration, straylight behavior, geometric alignment, the use of onboard browse products, and interference tests with other JUICE instruments. This event also enabled assessment of thermal behavior and susceptibility to electromagnetic interference, and provided a first operational benchmark for MAJIS and a basis for refining future observation strategies and data analyses during JUICE's cruise and science phases. In addition, despite limited spatial and temporal coverage of the observations, the analyses presented here and in a series of companion papers of the special issue “The first-ever lunar-Earth flyby: a unique test environment for JUICE” demonstrated the instrument's ability to characterize mineralogical features on the Moon and atmospheric constituents on Earth. Observations include detection of mafic minerals (some associated to fresh excavated materials), thermal emission, and emissivity variations on the Moon at spatial scale of 100–200 m. Characterization of atmospheric absorption features, thermal brightness, icy cloud properties are captured for the Earth at km-scale and briefly discussed in the framework of the atmospheric biosignatures relevant to exoplanet habitability studies. Near-coincident acquisitions with other JUICE instruments and Earth-orbiting spectrometers provided valuable inter-calibration and cross-validation opportunities.

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Journal
Annales Geophysicae
Published
2026-03-03
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-44-163-2026
Primary Topic
Planetary Science and Exploration
Type
article
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article

ESA/JUICE encounters Earth/Moon in 2024: overview of the Moons And Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer (MAJIS) observations

Vincent Carlier, R. Sordini, C. Vallat, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega et al.
Annales Geophysicae
Planetary Science and Exploration
article

ESA/JUICE encounters Earth/Moon in 2024: overview of the Moons And Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer (MAJIS) observations

Vincent Carlier, R. Sordini, C. Vallat, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, Sophie Jacquinod, A. Nathues, D. Turrini, É. Quirico, Stefania Stefani, Fabrizio Oliva, N. Ligier, G. Tobie, Katrin Stephan, A. Migliorini, A. Adriani, Patrick Irwin, Mauro Ciarnello, Alessandro Moraino, Giuseppe Sindoni, Giuseppe Piccioni, Miriam Cisneros González, Magali Mebsout, Marcel Snels, Ozgur Karatekin, Dominique Bockelée, Francesca Zambon, Cristian Carli, Pierre Drossart, Simone De Angelis, Andrea Raponi, Marc Dexet, Davide Grassi, Maria Elisabetta Palumbo, A. C. Vandaele, B. Schmitt, O. Poch, Giovanni Strazzulla, Cédric Leyrat, Maria De Sanctis, Nicolas Mangold, Séverine Robert, Fabrizio Capaccioni, Thibault Cavalié, Cédric Pilorget, Tim Trent, Jean-Claude Gérard, Jean-Pierre Bibring, Gianrico Filacchione, Yves Langevin, John Carter, Leigh N. Fletcher, Emiliano D'Aversa, Benoit Seignovert, Clément Royer, Alessandro Morbidelli, Sébastien Rodriguez, Mathieu Vincendon, Gabriele Arnold, Denis Grodent, Emmanuel Lellouch, Alessandro Mura, Rosario Brunetto, Stéphane Le Mouélic, Olivier Witasse, Federico Tosi, Sandrine Guerlet, Thierry Fouchet, Francesca Altieri, François Poulet, Cydalise Dumesnil, Frédéric Merlin
article en

Abstract

Abstract. The Lunar-Earth Gravitational Assist (LEGA) of 19–20 August 2024 marked the first in-flight opportunity beyond functional checks to perform MAJIS (Moons and Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer) observations on-board the ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft. This unique double flyby involved sequential close approaches to the Moon and Earth, offering an unprecedented configuration to evaluate MAJIS under high radiance, rapidly changing geometric, and operationally constrained conditions. A total of 24 hyperspectral image cubes were acquired (5 targeting the Moon and 19 the Earth) providing a dataset of approximately 7.5 Gbit. This work presents the primary goal of this observation campaign, which was to verify key aspects of MAJIS performance, including radiometric and spectral calibration, straylight behavior, geometric alignment, the use of onboard browse products, and interference tests with other JUICE instruments. This event also enabled assessment of thermal behavior and susceptibility to electromagnetic interference, and provided a first operational benchmark for MAJIS and a basis for refining future observation strategies and data analyses during JUICE's cruise and science phases. In addition, despite limited spatial and temporal coverage of the observations, the analyses presented here and in a series of companion papers of the special issue “The first-ever lunar-Earth flyby: a unique test environment for JUICE” demonstrated the instrument's ability to characterize mineralogical features on the Moon and atmospheric constituents on Earth. Observations include detection of mafic minerals (some associated to fresh excavated materials), thermal emission, and emissivity variations on the Moon at spatial scale of 100–200 m. Characterization of atmospheric absorption features, thermal brightness, icy cloud properties are captured for the Earth at km-scale and briefly discussed in the framework of the atmospheric biosignatures relevant to exoplanet habitability studies. Near-coincident acquisitions with other JUICE instruments and Earth-orbiting spectrometers provided valuable inter-calibration and cross-validation opportunities.

Annales GeophysicaeVol. 44(1)
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Institut de physique du globe de Paris (FR), Université de Bordeaux (FR), University of Leicester (GB), University of Liège (BE), University of the Basque Country (ES), Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BE), Université Paris Cité (FR), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Observatoire de Paris (FR), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE), Sorbonne Université (FR), ASL Roma (IT), European Space Astronomy Centre (ES), Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology (IT), Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (DE), Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania (IT), Centre Pour La Recherche Economique et ses Applications (FR), Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur (FR), Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géosciences (FR), Azienda Sanitaria Locale Roma 3 (IT), Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers Nantes Atlantique (FR), European Space Research and Technology Centre (NL), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR), Nantes Université (FR)
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