NASA's flagship Europa Clipper spacecraft executed a crucial gravity assist manoeuvre today, sweeping past Mars at a distance of just under a thousand kilometres.

Because the Clipper spacecraft is so massive (about 6000 Kg) - it's the largest planetary mission NASA has ever built - it needs these planetary slingshots to build up enough momentum to reach Jupiter.

While the primary goal was purely navigational, it is always a thrill when spacecraft activate their instruments during these flybys. The telemetry from the Mars pass will help calibrate the ice-penetrating radar and spectrometers before its next major gravity assist past Earth next year.

"Europa Clipper’s three main science objectives are to understand the nature of the ice shell and the ocean beneath it, along with the moon’s composition and geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet."

Europa Clipper will determine whether there are places below Europa’s surface that could support life.

I'm so excited for this mission. Europa is a fascinating world, about the size of Earth's moon but with quite possibly twice the amount of water than in all Earth's oceans in a planet wide ocean beneath many kilometers of ice.

The Clipper will actually orbit Jupiter, and not Europa. The intense radiation around Jupiter makes it very dangerous to stay too close for too long. The Clipper will adopt a long elliptical orbit, staying out of harm's way for long periods of the orbit and then dive-bombing in towards the Jupiter Europa system and making a number of close fly-by's of Europa.

Launched on Oct. 14, 2024, Europa Clipper will arrive at Jupiter in 2030.

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/europa-clipper/mission-overview/

Europa Clipper Takes to the Skies

Here is an image I took back in August 2009 of Jupiter and its four Galilean moons, IO, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto