It will take Europa Clipper 5½ years to reach Jupiter, where it will slip into orbit around the giant gas planet and sneak close to Europa during dozens of radiation-drenched flybys.
About the size of a basketball court with its solar wings unfurled, Clipper will swing past Mars and then Earth on its way to Jupiter for gravity assists. The nearly 13,000-pound (5,700-kilogram) ...
NASA's Europa Clipper mission, launched by SpaceX Falcon Heavy, embarks on a six-year journey to explore Jupiter's moon, Europa, utilizing gravity assists and aiming to study its icy subsurface ocean.