NASA Spacecraft Whipping Around Mars to Slingshot Itself Toward Jupiter's Mysterious Moon

NASA's Europa Clipper is about to use Mars' gravitational pull to slingshot itself as it makes its way to Jupiter's fourth-largest moon later this week. The craft launched from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in October 2024, embarking on a 1.8-billion-mile journey to the gas giant. The goal is to reach Europa, the smallest of the planet's four Galilean moons, in April 2030, as part of the first mission specifically designed to study the under 2,000-mile-across space rock. The mission's main objective is to investigate whether the moon is habitable. Its icy surface has long intrigued scientists, with evidence suggesting it's covered in a massive, salty subsurface ocean, which could harbor extraterrestrial life. Experts have previously described it as one of the best places to look for alien life. But getting there is no easy feat. Clipper's journey will involve the "gravity assist" maneuver around Mars later this week, and the Earth again next year — a circuitous path that not o ... Read full article.