Engineers Begin Assembly of NASA’s Europa Clipper

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Europa Clipper would orbit Jupiter about every two weeks, providing many opportunities for close flybys of Europa.

In total, the solar-powered orbiter would perform 45 flybys at altitudes ranging from 25 to 2,700 km (16 to 1,700 miles), imaging the moon’s icy surface at high resolution and investigating its composition and the structure of its interior and icy shell.

When it’s fully assembled, Europa Clipper will be as large as an SUV with solar arrays long enough to span a basketball court.

The assembly effort is already underway in clean rooms at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California.

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