Produced by: Tarun Mishra
NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft, launched on October 14, 2024, is en route to Europa, Jupiter’s icy moon. Currently 20 million kilometres from Earth, it is traveling at a speed of 126,000 km/h relative to the Sun. The spacecraft aims to explore Europa's potential for harbouring life.
Europa Clipper will reach Mars in three months to perform a gravity assist, a manoeuvre to boost its trajectory. This event marks a key milestone in the spacecraft’s 2.9-billion-kilometer journey to Jupiter, which it is expected to reach in 2030.
Upon arrival at Jupiter, Europa Clipper will conduct 49 flybys of Europa starting in 2031. Its primary mission is to investigate the moon's subsurface ocean and icy crust, analyzing their potential to support microbial life.
The spacecraft, NASA's largest planetary mission to date, features advanced instruments powered by massive solar arrays that span the length of a basketball court. These arrays were among the first components deployed after launch.
Europa Clipper has successfully extended its 8.5-meter-long magnetometer boom, which will measure Europa’s magnetic field. This data will help estimate the depth and salinity of the moon's subsurface ocean.
The spacecraft has also deployed four high-frequency and eight very-high-frequency radar antennas. These instruments will penetrate Europa’s icy surface, revealing details about its composition and structure.
Engineers are currently testing and calibrating the spacecraft’s instruments to ensure they function as intended. Additional testing of its thermal imager and radar systems is planned during the Mars flyby in March 2025.
A second gravity assist near Earth in December 2026 will refine Europa Clipper’s trajectory. By the time it begins its detailed study of Europa in 2031, the spacecraft will have traveled billions of kilometers, paving the way for groundbreaking insights into one of the solar system’s most intriguing moons.