Europa Clipper Solar Array Stowage

Technicians test, retract, and stow one of the two “wings” comprising the solar arrays for NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft on Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Each array measures about 46.5 feet (14.2 meters) long and about 13.5 feet (4.1 meters) high when extended. The spacecraft needs the massive solar arrays to power to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa to help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.

Technicians test, retract, and stow one of the two “wings” comprising the solar arrays for NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft on Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Each array measures about 46.5 feet (14.2 meters) long and about 13.5 feet (4.1 meters) high when extended. The spacecraft needs the massive solar arrays to power to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa to help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.

Photographer NASA/Kim Shiflett
Album SpaceX_Europa_Clipper
NASANational Aeronautical and Space AdministrationKSCKennedy Space CenterJet Propulsion LabJPLEuropa ClipperEuropaJupitermoonicy moonJohns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory APL internal oceanLSP