Europa Clipper wouldn't risk impacting the planet. Then the team used the spacecraft's engines to veer closer to Mars' orbit in what are called trajectory correction maneuvers, or TCMs.

So, with everything on track, mission controllers commanded Europa Clipper to approach Mars' orbit in November of last year, followed by two additional maneuvers in January and February that set ...

Because they all orbit in the ecliptic plane ... from the rocky planets to the moons around our gas and ice giants. Europa is one of the closest moons of the gas giant Jupiter.