Conversations The giant spacecraft on its way to Jupiter's icy moon
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Mar 30, 2026 Tracy Drain, aerospace engineer and chief engineer for NASA's Europa Clipper with two decades at JPL and a National Geographic Explorer, talks about the giant spacecraft's big solar arrays, why it must be large, and the clever flyby trajectory using gravity assists. She explains radiation shielding, autonomous fault protection, instruments that probe Europa's ice and ocean, and the timeline to reach Jupiter's icy moon.
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Instruments Target Europa's Hidden Ocean
- Europa Clipper carries instruments to measure ice thickness, surface composition, and thermal variations to assess Europa's habitability.
- Tracy Drain explains radar, spectrometers and a thermal camera will detect subsurface ocean depth, chemical deposits and warmer thin-ice regions.
Huge Solar Wings Because Jupiter Is Dim
- Large solar arrays are required because sunlight at Jupiter is only ~4% of Earth's, so Clipper's wings span beyond an NBA court when deployed.
- Drain compares deployed wings to a basketball court to convey scale and power needs.
Gravity Assists Power The Journey To Jupiter
- Clipper used gravity assists from Mars and will return past Earth on 3 December to gain velocity rather than rely solely on launch energy.
- Drain calls it "solar system billiards" where close planetary flybys enlarge the spacecraft's orbit to reach Jupiter.