NASA’s Europa Clipper Solar Array Hoist at Kennedy Space Center

Technicians hoist a five-panel solar array protected by a lid for NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. The arrays are each 46.5 feet long (14.2 meters). With both solar arrays deployed, Europa Clipper will span more than 100 feet long, about the length of a basketball court. The solar arrays power the spacecraft so it can study Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, which is more than five times as far from the Sun as the Earth. Launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket is no earlier than October 2024.