Solar System Simulator · Spacecraft · live
Where is Europa Clipper right now?
On its way to Jupiter, arriving April 2030. Launched 14 October 2024 by NASA.
Worked out for Fri, Oct 23, 2026 (UTC) from JPL Horizons.
What Europa Clipper is doing
Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has sent to another planet, with solar arrays 30 metres across. It flew past Mars in March 2025 and swings past Earth in December 2026 for a final push toward Jupiter.
What happens next
It reaches Jupiter in April 2030 and then makes about 49 close flybys of Europa, sounding the ice shell with radar and sampling what vents through it, to learn whether the ocean beneath could support life.
Timeline
| When | Event |
|---|---|
| 14 Oct 2024 | Launch |
| 1 Mar 2025 | Mars flyby |
| Dec 2026 | Earth flyby |
| 11 Apr 2030 | Arrives at Jupiter |
| 2031 | 49 Europa flybys begin |
What the simulator does
- Open the Now tab: the clock jumps to this minute and pauses, and every probe is drawn where JPL Horizons puts it, among the planets where they really are.
- Pick Europa Clipper and the view centres on it; the compressed distance scale keeps even the Voyagers in the frame.
- The positions come from JPL's tables, refreshed every day; the planets come from the simulator's own physics on today's date.
Questions people ask
Where is Europa Clipper right now?
Europa Clipper is 0.84 AU from the Sun, 125.5 million km (78.0 million mi), and 0.30 AU from Earth. Light from it takes 2.5 minutes to reach us.
How far is Europa Clipper from Earth?
0.30 AU, 45.1 million km (28.0 million mi) from Earth today, so a radio signal takes 2.5 minutes each way.
When does Europa Clipper reach Jupiter?
April 2030; its flybys of Europa run from 2031.
How is its position worked out?
From JPL Horizons, NASA's ephemeris service, which tracks every spacecraft from its radio signals. This site keeps a table of positions a few days apart and reads today's from it; the page is rendered for the day it is served.
Keep going
The distances come from JPL Horizons, refreshed daily; the map and the simulator place the planets with the site's own physics.