// ORBITAL LOGISTICS AND PROPULSION TERM
Flyby
A flyby is when a spacecraft passes close to a planet or other celestial body without entering orbit or landing, often to gather data or use its gravity.
TECHNICAL DEFINITION
A flyby is a space mission maneuver where a spacecraft passes in close proximity to a celestial body (e.g., planet, moon, asteroid) without entering orbit, primarily for scientific data collection, reconnaissance, or gravity assist.
BACKGROUND
Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism. Tourists are motivated by the possibility of viewing Earth from space, feeling weightlessness, experiencing extremely high speed, and contributing to science.
READ MORE ON WIKIPEDIASYNONYMS & ALIASES
- Close approach
- planetary encounter
- swing-by
USAGE NOTE
Many deep-space probes perform flybys of multiple planets to achieve their scientific objectives.
DEVELOPERS
Organizations developing technology related to Flyby.
NASA is a U.S. government agency responsible for the civilian space program, aeronautics research, and space research. They have conducted numerous flyby missions, including Voyager, New Horizons, Juno, and Cassini, which utilized flybys for gravity assist maneuvers and close-up observations of celestial bodies.
ESA is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the exploration of space. They develop and launch missions that frequently employ flyby techniques for trajectory correction, scientific data collection, and gravity assists, such as the BepiColombo mission to Mercury and the upcoming JUICE mission to Jupiter's icy moons.
JAXA is Japan's national aerospace and space agency. They are known for their robotic exploration missions that utilize flybys for interplanetary travel and close encounters, such as the Hayabusa missions to asteroids.
Managed by Caltech for NASA, JPL is a leading center for robotic exploration of the solar system. They design, develop, and operate interplanetary spacecraft that execute complex flyby trajectories for missions like Galileo, Cassini, and New Horizons.
SpaceX designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. While primarily focused on Earth orbit and Mars entry, their ambitious Starship program aims for deep space travel, which will inherently involve flyby maneuvers for interplanetary transfers and planetary encounters.
Lockheed Martin Space is a major aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, building a variety of spacecraft for government and commercial customers. They have developed probes like OSIRIS-REx and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which employ flyby techniques for mission execution and scientific data gathering.
Airbus Defence and Space is a division of Airbus responsible for defense and aerospace products and services. They build satellites and spacecraft for various missions, including those for ESA that rely on flyby dynamics for interplanetary exploration and observations.
Ball Aerospace develops spacecraft, instruments, and sensors for space exploration, Earth science, and national security. They contribute to missions that utilize flybys for achieving their scientific objectives, often by providing advanced instrumentation for data collection during close encounters.