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.

JUICE (short for "Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer") will reach its target in July 2031 with the help of four gravity-assist planetary flybys, which will increase the probe's velocity and slingshot it toward the outer solar system. The second of those flybys will occur this Sunday, when JUICE buzzes by Venus — but a communications glitch last month put the prep

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