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PIMS | Instruments – NASA's Europa Clipper
PIMS | Instruments – NASA's Europa Clipper

NASA

Europa Clipper

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PIMS

Plasma sensors will help study Europa’s ice thickness, ocean depth, and conductivity.

Instruments

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Meet Europa Clipper

Instruments

EIS

E-THEMIS

Europa-UVS

MISE

ECM

PIMS

Gravity/Radio Science

REASON

MASPEX

SUDA

Assembly

Vault Plate

EIS

E-THEMIS

Europa-UVS

MISE

ECM

PIMS

Gravity/Radio Science

REASON

MASPEX

SUDA

Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding (PIMS)

ASSEMBLY STATUS

Step 4

Environmental Testing

Tests are conducted to demonstrate that the Europa Clipper spacecraft can survive the environments it will experience in flight.

Learn more ›

Introduction
Jupiter’s magnetic field induces a magnetic field at Europa. The mission’s magnetometer investigation will study the moon’s magnetic field. The goal is to reveal Europa’s ocean depth and conductivity, and ice shell thickness. 
Jupiter’s magnetic field also carries charged particles called plasma from the volcanic moon Io, Jupiter’s ionosphere, and Europa itself. The plasma distorts Europa’s induced magnetic field and distorts the magnetic signal.
The Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding, or PIMS, will study the density, temperature and flow of plasma near Europa. PIMS will help correct the magnetic induction signal for plasma distortions around Europa. It's the key to precisely determining Europa's ice shell thickness, ocean depth, and conductivity.

Interact with an isolated view of the instrument.

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How It Works
How It Works
PIMS has four sensors called Faraday cups to study plasma’s density, temperature, and velocity. Each cup is about three inches (eight centimeters) deep and eight inches (20 centimeters) wide. A grid near the top of each cup produces an electric field to block unwanted particles.
Discovering Alien Oceans: Magnetism – NASA's Europa Clipper
An identical copy of Europa Clipper's propulsion module and electronics vault is lowered by crane in a static test tower.

Europa Clipper's Developmental Test Model

Europa Clipper’s 28-foot (8.5-meter) magnetometer boom is unfurled at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Europa Clipper Team Deploys Magnetometer Boom

This video shows a test deployment of Europa Clipper’s very high frequency (VHF) radar antenna.

Europa Clipper REASON VHF Radar Antenna Deployment

This color composite view combines violet, green, and infrared images of Jupiter's intriguing moon, Europa, for a view of the moon in natural color (left) and in enhanced color designed to bring ou...

Europa Global Views in Natural and Enhanced Colors

Workers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California deploy Europa Clipper’s magnetometer boom.

Workers Deploy the Europa Clipper Magnetometer Boom

This view of Jupiter's icy moon Europa shows a region shaped like a mitten that has a texture similar to the matrix of chaotic terrain, which is seen in medium and high resolution images of numerou...

 Mitten Shaped Region of Chaotic Terrain on Europa 

This complex area on the side of Europa which faces away from Jupiter shows several types of features which are formed by disruptions of Europa's icy crust.

Scrambled Ice

Europa Clipper's high-gain antenna is installed on Aug. 14, 2023.

Powerful Antenna Installed On Europa Clipper

This image of Europa, an icy satellite of Jupiter about the size of the Earth's Moon, was obtained from a range of 7,415 miles (11,933 kilometers) by the Galileo spacecraft during its fourth orbit ...

Macula on Europa 

This enhanced color image from NASa's Galileo mission shows the region surrounding the young impact crater Pwyll on Jupiter's moon Europa.

Pwyll Crater

This artist's rendering shows NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft, which is aiming for launch readiness by 2024.

2021 Europa Clipper Spacecraft (Artist's Concept)

This animation segment shows NASA’s Europa Clipper flying by Mars during its Mars gravity assist. 

Mission Animation: Mars Gravity Assist
EIS | Instruments – NASA's Europa Clipper
“Combined with the REASON instrument, which can penetrate into the moon’s surface, we’ll be able to understand both the surface and subsurface structure.”

Elizabeth “Zibi” Turtle

Principal Investigator

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Where is EIS on Clipper?

EIS highlighted in red on the Europa Clipper Spacecraft.

EIS

E-THEMIS

Europa-UVS

MISE

ECM

PIMS

Gravity/Radio Science

REASON

MASPEX

SUDA

Related News

Members of the media put on “bunny suits” on April 11, 2024, to see Europa Clipper up close at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Media Get Close-Up of NASA's Jupiter-Bound Europa Clipper

We're thrilled to announce that NASA's 'Message in a Bottle' campaign has been nominated for a #Webby Award! We need your help to win! Cast your vote for our nomination.

Vote for Us! 'Message in a Bottle' Nominated for a Webby

When it launches in October, NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft will carry a richly layered dispatch that includes more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public.

NASA Unveils Design for Message Heading to Jupiter's Moon Europa

The addition of a high-gain antenna will enable the agency’s Europa Clipper spacecraft – set to launch in October 2024 – to communicate with mission controllers hundreds of millions of miles away.

NASA's Europa Probe Gets a Hotline to Earth

The Europa Clipper magnetometer has completed its rigorous testing and calibration at JPL and is ready for integration onto the Europa Clipper spacecraft.

Europa Clipper's Magnetometer Testing is Complete, Ready for Integration

The short videos take audiences behind the scenes to learn more about how space missions come together.

New Video Series Captures Team Working on NASA's Europa Clipper
PIMS | Instruments – NASA's Europa Clipper
The measurements will enable us to decipher complex physical processes that ultimately will help us understand the properties of Europa's subsurface ocean.”
“Europa creates a magnetic field in response to an external magnetic field that comes from Jupiter, Luspay-Kuti added. "Measuring that magnetic field can tell us a lot about Europa’s subsurface ocean. The problem is that there's also plasma in the magnetosphere of Jupiter and that plasma hits Europa. Europa basically sits in this plasma river. We need to know how to subtract that plasma, and that's what PIMS will help with.”
“Plasma distorts magnetic fields around Europa and obscures the induction signal from the magnetometer,” said Corey Cochrane, a JPL engineer and investigation scientist on the ECM and PIMS teams. “PIMS will allow us to model the plasma and subtract its contribution from magnetometer data.” It will let scientists study Europa’s ocean depth and conductivity, and ice shell thickness.
Meet the Team
Meet the Team

“It’s totally fun to be a part of this thing. It’s definitely a dream job.”

- Corey Cochrane, a JPL engineer and scientist, and member of Europa Clipper’s PIMS and ECM teams

Adrienn Luspay-Kuti

Principal Investigator

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Where is PIMS on Clipper?

PIMS highlighted in red on the Europa Clipper Spacecraft.

EIS

E-THEMIS

Europa-UVS

MISE

ECM

PIMS

Gravity/Radio Science

REASON

MASPEX

SUDA

Related News

Members of the media put on “bunny suits” on April 11, 2024, to see Europa Clipper up close at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Media Get Close-Up of NASA's Jupiter-Bound Europa Clipper

We're thrilled to announce that NASA's 'Message in a Bottle' campaign has been nominated for a #Webby Award! We need your help to win! Cast your vote for our nomination.

Vote for Us!
10 Things to Know About Europa Clipper's Science Instruments – NASA's Europa Clipper
While the spacecraft’s ice-penetrating radar and magnetometer will provide complementary means of measuring the ice shell’s thickness, gravity experiments will also allow scientists to get detailed measurements of the varying shape of Europa’s surface as it orbits Jupiter as well as detailed information about Europa’s subsurface. 
+ read more

Europa Clipper will pass through Europa’s gravity field nearly 50 times while the moon is at various distances from Jupiter. Europa’s gravity field is in part a result of the shape of the moon itself. By studying how Europa’s gravity field changes shape, scientists are measuring how the moon itself responds to tidal forces by Jupiter, as a result of its interior structure. In gravity experiments, radio antennas from NASA’s Deep Space Network will send radio signals to Europa Clipper. The spacecraft then retransmits radio waves to Earth at a different frequency, coherent to what it received. The gravity science team can then precisely analyze the Doppler shift and other aspects of the radio signal received on Earth. These gravity measurements, combined with the lines of evidence from the spacecraft’s ice-penetrating radar and magnetometer, will help constrain the possible thicknesses of Europa’s ice and ocean layers.

Diurnal temperature color image from the first light test of Europa Clipper’s thermal imager, taken from the rooftop of the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 4 on the Tempe Campus of Arizona State University (ASU). The top image was acquired at 12:40 PM, the middle at 4:40 PM, and the bottom image at 6:20 PM (after sunset). Temperatures are approximations during this testing phase.

7. A thermal instrument will survey Europa's frozen surface in search of recent eruptions of warmer water at or near the surface. 
Europa Clipper will carry a thermal emission imaging system that will analyze infrared light from Europa to map the temperatures across the moon’s surface. It will seek clues about activity, such as cryovolcanoes and regions where the moon’s suspected ocean may be near the surface. When part of Europa rotates out of sunlight, granular material cools faster than large blocks of material.
Instruments | Spacecraft – NASA's Europa Clipper
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Radar & Gravity
Radar & Gravity
Europa’s physical properties affect radio signals, which will help reveal the moon’s interior. A gravity experiment will analyze frequency shifts in the spacecraft’s signals to Earth (the same signals used in communication and navigation) to study Europa’s internal structure. A radar instrument will transmit radio into Europa’s icy shell and analyze the bounced signals to “see” internal features.

Gravity/Radio Science

Europa and its gravity field flex as the moon’s non-circular orbit carries it closer, then farther, from Jupiter. Measuring Europa’s gravity at various points in the moon’s orbit will show how Europa flexes and help reveal its internal structure.
learn more ›

Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface (REASON)

Ice-penetrating radar will probe Europa’s icy shell for the moon’s suspected ocean and study the ice’s structure and thickness. It will also study the moon’s surface elevations, composition, and roughness, and search the moon’s atmosphere for plumes.
learn more ›

Chemical Analysis
Chemical Analysis
Radar and cameras “look” at things from afar, while other science instruments such as magnetometers sense the environment immediately around the spacecraft. Still others collect gas and dust in space to identify their chemical makeup. Europa Clipper’s complementary dust spectrometer and neutral gas mass spectrometer perform such collections; they are the mission’s “hands-on” experiments.

MAss Spectrometer for Planetary EXploration/Europa (MASPEX)

The mass spectrometer will analyze gases in Europa’s faint atmosphere and possible plumes. It will study the chemistry of the moon’s suspected subsurface ocean, how ocean and surface exchange material, and how radiation alters compounds on the moon’s surface.
learn more ›

SUrface Dust Analyzer (SUDA)

Tiny meteorites eject bits of Europa’s surface into space, and a subsurface ocean or reservoirs might vent material into space as plumes. The dust analyzer will identify that material’s chemistry and area of origin, and offer clues to Europa’s ocean salinity.
 
learn more ›

Conclusion
Conclusion
Europa Clipper Paper Model – NASA's Europa Clipper
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Overview | The Team – NASA's Europa Clipper
Deputy Project Manager: Tim Larson, JPL
Assistant Project Manager: Tom Magner, APL
Deputy Project Scientist: Bonnie Buratti, JPL
Deputy Project Scientist: Haje Korth, APL
Program Scientist: Curt Niebur, NASA Headquarters (HQ)
Deputy Program Scientist: Amanda Nahm, NASA HQ
Program Executive: David Lavery, NASA HQ
Program Manager: Scott Bellamy, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Lead Project Support: Erin Mitchell, JPL
Project Support: Susana Thompson, JPL 
Project Support: Ocean Mcintyre, JPL
Project Administrator: Madeline Russell, JPL 
Engineering Team
Project System Engineer: Joseph Stehly, JPL
Deputy Project System Engineer: Gabby Garcia, JPL
Deputy Project System Engineer: Liz Johnson, JPL
Chief Engineer: Kobie Boykins, JPL
Deputy Chief Engineer: Jason Feldman, JPL
Project Business Manager: Tiffany Daleo, JPL
Science Manager: Brian Paczkowski, JPL
Deputy Science Manager: Trina Ray, JPL
Mission Assurance Manager: Linda Facto, JPL
Deputy Mission Assurance Manager: Michael Kokorowski, JPL
​Mission System Manager: Josh St Vaughn, JPL
Deputy Mission System Manager: Al Cangahuala, JPL
Deputy Mission System Manager: Glen Havens, JPL
Assistant Mission System Manager:
Debarati Chattopadhyay, APL
Launch to Mars Mission Manager: Tracy Drain, JPL 
Payload Manager: Kevin Clark, JPL
Lead Payload System Engineer: London Lawson, JPL
Flight System Manager: Jeff Srinivasan, JPL
Deputy Flight System Manager: Kendra Short, JPL
Deputy Flight System Manager: Tom Jedrey, JPL
Project Flight System Engineer: Carolina Barltrop, JPL 
Deputy Flight System Engineer: Alek Kerzhner, JPL
Deputy Flight System Engineer: Kari Lewis, JPL
Deputy Flight System Engineer: Sofia Stachel, APL
Science Team
Project Staff Scientist: Kate Craft, APL
Project Staff Scientist: Rachel Klima, APL
Project Staff Scientist: Cynthia Phillips, JPL
Old Data Reveal New Evidence of Europa Plumes – NASA's Europa Clipper
JPL manages the Europa Clipper mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-6215
gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov
Dwayne Brown / JoAnna Wendel
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726 / 202-358-1003
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov / joanna.r.wendel@nasa.gov
 

Meet Margaret Kivelson

On May 14, 2018, you published a study using Galileo data from more than 20 years ago, showing evidence for a plume at Europa. How did that come about?

Read the Q&A

Featured Resources

Europa's Crisscrossed Ridges and Fractures

REASON

Why Does NASA Want to Explore Jupiter's Ocean Moon?

More resources ›

[19]

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U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, who is known for work that explores the human connection to the natural world, is crafting a new poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission.

A Voice Among the Stars: Poem by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón Will Ride to Europa on NASA Spacecraft

La poetisa laureada estadounidense Ada Limón, conocida por su trabajo que explora la conexión humana con el mundo natural, está escribiendo un nuevo poema dedicado a la misión Europa Clipper de la NASA.

Una voz entre las estrellas: Poema de la poetisa laureada estadounidense Ada Limón viajará a Europa en una nave espacial de la NASA

How will Europa Clipper see through Europa's thick ice shell to study the moon's ocean?

Mission Dispatch: Using Radar to Study Earth and Europa

Parallel ice ridges, a common feature on Jupiter’s moon Europa, are also found on Greenland’s ice sheet.
NASA’s Europa Clipper Makes Cross-Country Flight to Florida
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Time Is Running Out to Add Your Name to NASA's Europa Clipper – NASA's Europa Clipper
Time Is Running Out to Add Your Name to NASA's Europa Clipper – NASA's Europa Clipper

NASA

Europa Clipper

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November 13, 2023

Time Is Running Out to Add Your Name to NASA's Europa Clipper 

Six weeks remain for you to add your name to a microchip that will ride aboard the spacecraft as it explores Jupiter’s moon Europa.

The “Message in a Bottle” campaign offers everyone the opportunity to have their name stenciled onto a microchip bearing U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa.” The chip will ride aboard NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft to Jupiter and its moon Europa. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 

It’s not every day that members of the public have the chance to send their names into deep space beyond Mars, all the way to Jupiter and its moon Europa. But with NASA’s Europa Clipper, you have that opportunity: Names will ride aboard the spacecraft as it journeys 1.8 billion miles (2.6 billion kilometers) to this icy moon, where an ocean hides beneath a frozen outer shell. The deadline to join the mission’s “Message in a Bottle” campaign is only six weeks away. The campaign closes at 11:59 p.m. EST, Dec. 31, 2023.
So far, about 700,000 names have been submitted. Once all the names have been gathered, technicians in the Microdevices Laboratory at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will use an electron beam to stencil them onto a dime-size silicon microchip. Each line of text is smaller than 1/1000th the width of a human hair (75 nanometers).

Names will be stenciled in tiny letters on special microchips that will ride aboard the Europa Clipper spacecraft as it journeys 1.8 billion miles (2.6 billion kilometers) to the icy moon.
Europa Clipper Paper Model – NASA's Europa Clipper
Europa Clipper’s thermal imager sits in its protective enclosure in the cleanroom at Arizona State University. 

Preparing Thermal Imager for First Light Test

A technician prepares to attach the vault plate to NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft on May 3, 2024. 

Europa Clipper Vault Plate Lifted

This image of Europa, smallest of Jupiter's four Galilean satellites, was acquired by Voyager 2 on July 9, 1979

Europa's Fractured Surface 

The Europa Clipper radio frequency (RF) panel is mechanically installed near the top of the propulsion module cylinders. 

Radio Frequency Module Integration

Engineers install a 2-foot-wide reaction wheel onto the main body of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

NASA's Europa Clipper Reaction Wheel in Process

This animation segment shows the deployment of NASA’s Europa Clipper ECM boom after launch.

Mission Animation: ECM Boom Deployment (Close)

Reanalysis of old data data suggests that the Galileo spacecraft, on its closest flyby of Europa, flew through a plume.

Re-analyzing Old Data Reveals New Evidence at Europa

This high resolution mosaic shows ridges, plains and mountains on Europa.

Ridges, Plains and Mountains

Engineers inspect Europa Clipper's ultraviolet spectrograph in a cleanroom at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California

Engineers Inspect Ultraviolet Spectrograph

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)’s Dan Aaron (lead spectrometer technician) is making final adjustments to the electrical connections between the MAss Spectrometer for Planetary EXploration/Euro...

Mass Spectrometer Assembly

These images reveal the dramatic topography of Europa's icy crust.

3D View of Double Ridges on Europa

This image of Europa was taken by the Galileo spacecraft under "low-Sun" illumination.

Terrain Shadows on Europa

An identical copy of Europa Clipper's propulsion module and electronics vault is lowered by crane in a static test tower.

Europa Clipper's Developmental Test Model

The inward-facing side of the Europa Clipper vault plate has drawings, and a microchip engraved with more than 2.6 million names.

Europa Clipper Vault Plate - Inward-Facing Side
Time Is Running Out to Add Your Name to NASA's Europa Clipper – NASA's Europa Clipper
Once all the names have been gathered, technicians in the Microdevices Laboratory at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will use an electron beam to stencil them onto a dime-size silicon microchip. Each line of text is smaller than 1/1000th the width of a human hair (75 nanometers).

Names will be stenciled in tiny letters on special microchips that will ride aboard the Europa Clipper spacecraft as it journeys 1.8 billion miles (2.6 billion kilometers) to the icy moon. See how technicians will use an electron beam to stencil names onto microchips, where each line of text is smaller than 1/1000th the width of a human hair. The microchips will be attached to a metal plate engraved with the original poem “In Praise of Mystery,” written by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón to celebrate the mission. That plate will then be attached to the exterior of the Europa Clipper spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The chip will be attached to a metal plate engraved with the original poem “In Praise of Mystery,” written by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón to celebrate the mission. Riding on the exterior of the spacecraft, the poem and names will be like a message in a bottle as they make about 50 close flybys of the ocean world.
The mission will log a half-billion miles (800 million kilometers) during these orbits as the spacecraft’s payload of science instruments gathers data on Europa’s subsurface ocean, icy crust, and atmosphere to determine if the moon could support life.
Once assembly of Europa Clipper has been completed at JPL, the orbiter will be shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for its October 2024 launch.
“Message in a Bottle” draws from NASA’s long tradition of shipping inspirational messages on spacecraft that have explored our solar system and beyond. The program aims to spark the imaginations of people around the world as the Voyager spacecraft did in 1977 by sending a time capsule of sounds and images reflecting the diversity of life on Earth
To sign, read the poem, and hear Limón recite it in an animated video, go to: