NASA · orbiter active
Europa Clipper
NASA's Europa Clipper is heading to Jupiter to study whether the ocean under Europa's ice could support life.
- Launch
- 14 October 2024
- Distance from Earth today
- 33.85 million km0.226 AU · light: 1 min 53 s
- Distance from the Sun today
- 126.7 million km0.847 AU
Live distance from Earth and chart →
Trajectory
Trajectory: JPL Horizons vectors (spacecraft -159) every 3 days, projected onto the ecliptic; compressed distance scale.
About the mission
Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has built for a planetary mission, with solar arrays spanning about 30 metres. Launched in October 2024, it swung past Mars in March 2025 and returns past Earth in December 2026 before arriving at Jupiter in April 2030. Rather than orbiting Europa, it will circle Jupiter and make dozens of close flybys of the moon, some as low as 25 km, to measure the ice shell, the hidden ocean and the chemistry of the surface while limiting its radiation dose.