Europa Clipper's Looping Journey to Jupiter (Artist's Concept)

This artist's concept depicts the long, looping path NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft will take to reach the Jupiter system. Covering a distance of about 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers), the path swings past Mars, then Earth, using the two planets' gravity as a slingshot to add speed to the spacecraft's journey to Jupiter. Once in orbit at Jupiter, the spacecraft will conduct dozens of close flybys of the gas giant's icy moon Europa.