John Carlos Baez
Here is the path the Europa Clipper will take on its journey from Earth to Jupiter. Gravity boosts from Mars and Earth will speed it up enough to reach Jupiter.
The Sun's gravity is powerful, but we've learned how cleverly steal energy from planets to help spacecraft escape its attraction!
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John Carlos Baez
The Europa Clipper finally took off! It'll reach this icy, water-filled moon of Jupiter in 2030. But it won't orbit that moon. Instead, it will fly by Europa 44 times, tracing out these wonderful tracks.
Why not orbit Europa? There's too much radiation that close to Jupiter, and the Clipper can collect data much faster than it can transmit it to Earth. If it orbited Europa it would fry before it could tell us very much!
Thus, the Clipper will spend most of its time farther from Jupiter, transmitting data to Earth. Using gravity assists from 2 other moons, it will occasionally swoop down, zip past Europa, and make more measurements.
In its 3½ year life, the Europa Clipper will get 2.8 megarads of radiation from Jupiter. This is about 280 times the amount that would kill you! Jupiter is pretty, but don't try to live nearby.
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