Credit & Copyright: Ben Cooper
(Launch Photography)
Explanation:
NASA's Europa Clipper
is now headed toward an ocean world beyond Earth.
The large spacecraft is tucked into the payload fairing atop the
Falcon Heavy rocket in this
photo, taken at Kennedy Space Center
the day before the mission's successful October 14 launch.
Europa Clipper's interplanetary voyage will first take it to Mars,
then back to Earth, and then on to Jupiter on
gravity assist trajectories
that will allow it to enter orbit around Jupiter in April 2030.
Once orbiting Jupiter, the spacecraft will fly past Europa 49 times,
exploring a Jovian moon
with a global subsurface ocean that may have conditions to support life.
Posing in the background next to the floodlit rocket
is Comet Tsuchinsan-ATLAS, about a day after the comet's closest approach to
Earth.
A current darling of evening skies,
the naked-eye comet is a
vistor from the distant Oort cloud
Growing Gallery:
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in 2024
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 |
Yanvar' Fevral' Mart Aprel' Mai Iyun' Iyul' Avgust Sentyabr' Oktyabr' Noyabr' Dekabr' |
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
|
Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami:
gravity assist - comet
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