Ben Cooper
Europa Clipper and the Comet. NASA’s Clipper spacecraft is now on its way to explore an ocean world beyond Earth.
Image credit: Ben Cooper (Launch Photography)
In this photo, taken the day before its successful October 14 launch from Kennedy Space Center, the large spacecraft is seen atop the Falcon Heavy rocket. In the background, Comet Tsuchinsan-ATLAS, a visible comet from the Oort cloud, appears after its closest approach to Earth.
The mission will use gravity assists from Mars and Earth to reach Jupiter by April 2030. Once there, it will make 49 flybys of Europa, a moon with a subsurface ocean that could potentially harbor life.
source APOD
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