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> scheduled to launch in October 2024 and will arrive at Europa in 2030 wow, when you see dates like this it really puts things into perspective! a six year tr
by ricktdotorg 3y ago
> scheduled to launch in October 2024 and will arrive at Europa in 2030
wow, when you see dates like this it really puts things into perspective! a six year trip! any idea of how much of the trip is acceleration vs. deceleration?
- Figs 3y agoNot exactly what you're asking, but it might be helpful to know that they're not planning to take a direct flight there. NASA is planning to use gravity assists off of Mars in Feb 2025 and Earth in Dec 2026. They can launch it MUCH more cheaply that way but it'll take about 3 years longer than a direct flight. There's an animation of the planned trajectory on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Animation_of_Europa_Clipper_trajectory.gif https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Animation_of_Europa_Clipp...