Today, the Europa Clipper made its way past Mars on a gravity assist move to further support its eventual swing by Jupiter’s moon Europa!

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As I mentioned in a previous post about this, the Martian gravity assist did not boost Europa Clipper’s speed but reduced it instead. This is so that less propellant is needed, as the craft still has a long way to go to reach Jupiter.

In fact, it’s swinging back to earth first for another gravity assist before being flung out past the asteroid belt. This gravity assist will happen in December 2026; the craft will get to Jupiter in April 2030.

Pretty cool, huh?