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Ephemeris: 12/16/2024 – The Europa Clipper mission

December 16, 2024

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Monday, December 16th. Today the Sun will be up for 8 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 5:03, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:14. The Moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 6:09 this evening.

Just two months ago the satellite to closely study Jupiter’s second Galileo moon Europa was launched from Cape Canaveral on a Falcon Heavy rocket. The satellite’s name is Europa Clipper. It was originally scheduled to be launched by the SLS rocket but this rocket which is used for the Artemis program was not going to be ready for the mission so they dropped back to the somewhat less powerful SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Europa Clipper will take 5 1/2 years to travel out to Jupiter with first a gravitational boost from a flyby of Mars and then another one a flyby of Earth to gain enough speed to make it to Jupiter. There it would orbit Jupiter in such a way as to fly by Europa multiple times. Jupiter’s radiation is harsh at Europa’s distance, so the satellite has to get in and get out quickly.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

An artist's conception of the Europa Clipper spacecraft flying by Europa
An artist’s conception of the Europa Clipper spacecraft flying by Europa. Credit: NASA/JPL.
This is the proposed trajectory of Europa Clipper to Jupiter
This is the proposed trajectory of Europa Clipper to Jupiter. The launch date was four days after the launch window opened on October 10th this year. NET stands for not earlier than. Launching four days after the beginning of the launch window will alter the dates of the Earth gravity assist little over two years after launch and the subsequent Mars fly by about 2 1/2 months after that. However, these all be altered so that the spacecraft will enter orbit around Jupiter at the correct date and time of April 11th 2030. Credit NASA/JPL.

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