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Meet Europa Clipper | Spacecraft – NASA's Europa Clipper
Meet Europa Clipper | Spacecraft – NASA's Europa Clipper

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Europa Clipper

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Introduction
What is NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft?
Europa Clipper is a robotic solar-powered spacecraft built to conduct the first detailed investigations of Jupiter's icy moon Europa. The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter and make nearly 50 flybys of Europa to determine whether there are places below Europa’s surface that could support life.
With its solar arrays deployed, Europa Clipper spans more than 100 feet (about 30 meters) – about the length of a basketball court. The main body of the spacecraft consists of its avionics vault, radiofrequency module, and propulsion module. 
At launch, Europa Clipper will weigh approximately 13,000 pounds (6,000 kilograms). Almost half of the weight will be fuel – nearly 6,000 pounds (2,750 kilograms) of propellant. 
Europa Clipper will launch in October 2024 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft will fly by Mars, then back by Earth, using the gravity of each planet to increase its momentum. These so-called “gravity assists” will provide Europa Clipper with the velocity needed to reach Jupiter in 2030.
After it begins orbiting Jupiter, Europa Clipper will spend about a year altering its trajectory to prepare for its first Europa flyby. The spacecraft will then spend about three years soaring past Europa dozens of times and sending data back to Earth. Over the course of the mission, the spacecraft will investigate nearly the entire moon.
Fast Facts
Europa Clipper Fast Facts

With its solar arrays deployed, Europa Clipper spans more than 100 feet (about 30 meters) – about the length of a basketball court.
The spacecraft has 24 engines.
NASA's Europa Clipper Mission Completes Main Body of the Spacecraft – NASA's Europa Clipper
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NASA Official/Program Executive: 
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NASA Official/Program Scientist: 
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Media Contact: 
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Public Engagement Manager: 
Heather Doyle

Public Engagement Lead: 
Laurance Fauconnet

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Science Writer: 
Sandy Marshall

Science Writer: 
Amanda Barnett
A Few Steps Closer to Europa: Spacecraft Hardware Makes Headway – NASA's Europa Clipper
While Europa Clipper is not a life-detection mission, it will conduct detailed reconnaissance of Europa and investigate whether the icy moon, with its subsurface ocean, has the capability to support life. Understanding Europa’s habitability will help scientists better understand how life developed on Earth and the potential for finding life beyond our planet.
Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with APL for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.
More information about Europa can be found here:
europa.nasa.gov

News Media Contact
Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-6215
gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

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Overview | Why Europa – NASA's Europa Clipper
Overview | Why Europa – NASA's Europa Clipper

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Click on this interactive visualization of Europa and take it for a spin! Explore more of our solar system through Eyes on the Solar System. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Why Europa?Why Europa? 
The search for life beyond Earth is one of NASA’s primary objectives. If humans are to truly understand our place in the universe, we must learn whether our planet is the only place where life exists. So the search is on!
But the universe is quite large. By its very definition, it’s the biggest thing there is. It includes everything that exists — every star, every galaxy, every speck of dust, every molecule, and the space in between. All of it. If we’re to find extraterrestrial life, we must narrow our search.

If we’re to find extraterrestrial life, we must narrow our search.

Astronomers use ground-based and space-based telescopes to find and study exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars), but no spacecraft has ever come close to reaching another star. A spacecraft powered by the latest spaceflight technology would take thousands of years to travel even to the nearest stars. So if we want to send a spacecraft to look for life, we should stick to our solar system for now, which narrows down our search considerably.

We on Earth have just one moon, but some planets have dozens of them. Others don’t have any. Which planets have moons, and which don’t? Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

But the solar system is still pretty big — a central star, a few large planets, a smattering of dwarf planets, 170-plus moons, and innumerable asteroids, comets, and trans-Neptunian objects — and all those objects are vast distances from all the other objects. Given the limits of time and other resources, we must narrow down our search yet again.
NASA Mission Named 'Europa Clipper' – NASA's Europa Clipper
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NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for Earth’s first mission to conduct detailed investigations of Jupiter's moon Europa.

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Jupiter’s moon Europa and its global ocean may currently have conditions suitable for life. Scientists are studying processes on the icy surface as they prepare to explore.

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Jupiter’s moon Europa may have the potential to harbor life. The spacecraft will use multiple flybys of the moon to investigate the habitability of this ocean world.

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The collective goal of all the flybys is to confirm or disprove that Europa has a subsurface water ocean, and to assess whether the icy moon has the chemistry, energy input, and other conditions needed to support some form of life.
Different proposed tours send Europa Clipper over different swaths of the moon’s surface (called groundtracks) on different dates, at different cadences, at different distances, and at different places in Europa’s orbit. The spacecraft’s science instruments and investigations are required to make certain observations, and each has its own ideal conditions for those observations. 

Mechanical engineers set up Europa Clipper's wide-angle camera outside of a thermal-vacuum chamber. The wide-angle camera is part of the spacecraft's Europa Imaging System, or EIS (pronounced "ICE"), which also includes a narrow-angle camera. The cameras, each with an eight-megapixel sensor, will produce high-resolution color and stereoscopic images of Europa. They will study geologic activity, measure surface elevations, and provide context for other instruments. 

For example, to reveal the moon’s internal structure, the gravity science investigation needs the spacecraft to pass through Europa’s gravity field several times when the moon is both near Jupiter and farther from Jupiter. On the other hand, the visible wavelength cameras need to observe Europa’s surface in a variety of lighting conditions and at a variety of distances to study surface features and to map the moon at a higher resolution than ever before. 
The mission design team strives to not only accommodate both the cameras and gravity science, but also the seven other instruments and investigations onboard Europa Clipper, each with their own required observations. Tour design must also manage fuel consumption, time between flybys, mission duration, cumulative radiation, ensure communication with Earth during key events, ensure the solar panels receive enough sunlight, and much more. Each proposed tour aims to find the right balance between fulfilling scientific objectives and meeting the demands of operating the spacecraft. 
Long before a single instrument or solar panel for Europa Clipper was assembled, Buffington’s team had already started developing possible science tours. Over many years, they presented possible tours to the mission’s leading engineers and scientists, who then provided feedback.
Mission Dispatch: Tweaking the Trajectory – NASA's Europa Clipper
Mission Dispatch: Tweaking the Trajectory – NASA's Europa Clipper

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| December 6, 2021

Mission Dispatch: Tweaking the Trajectory 

Brent Buffington, Europa Clipper's mission design manager, working on the spacecraft's trajectory in his office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Credit: NASA/Jay R. Thompson

Every part of Europa Clipper’s flight path, or trajectory, is important – from launch in 2024 until end-of-mission in the mid-2030s.
But the mission’s scientific target is Europa, so the most complex and demanding segment of the spacecraft’s trajectory is the three years when it performs repeated flybys of the moon. This part of the mission is called the “tour.”
The tour is what NASA engineer Brent Buffington was working on on September 1, 2021 (seen above), in his office at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
“Right now we’re in the middle of the ‘tour tweak’ process,” Buffington said. “We’re optimizing already-designed tours based on scientist feedback to further enhance the science return.”
Buffington is Europa Clipper’s mission design manager. His team created a variety of candidate science tours for the mission. Each tour is a precise series of elliptical orbits around Jupiter in which the spacecraft passes near Europa 45-plus times.
The goal of each flyby is to pass near Europa at the best distance, speed, lighting conditions, and location (both over the surface and in Europa’s orbit) to maximize science return while safely operating the spacecraft. The collective goal of all the flybys is to confirm or disprove that Europa has a subsurface water ocean, and to assess whether the icy moon has the chemistry, energy input, and other conditions needed to support some form of life.
Different proposed tours send Europa Clipper over different swaths of the moon’s surface (called groundtracks) on different dates, at different cadences, at different distances, and at different places in Europa’s orbit.
Missions
NASA's Europa Clipper will conduct detailed reconnaissance of Jupiter's moon Europa and investigate whether the icy moon could have conditions suitable for life.
 . Launch date: Oct. 10, 2024 Mission Category: Mission. | future Category: future. Mission Category: Mission. | future Category: future. CADRE 
 A trio of small rovers will work as a team to explore the Moon autonomously, mapping the subsurface in 3D, collecting distributed measurements, and showing the potential of multirobot missions.
 . Launch date: 2024 Mission Category: Mission. | current Category: current. Mission Category: Mission. | current Category: current. NISAR 
 Using advanced radar imaging that will provide an unprecedented, detailed view of Earth, the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, or NISAR, satellite is designed to observe and take measurements of some of the planet's most complex processes.
 . Launch date: 2024 Mission Category: Mission. | current Category: current. Mission Category: Mission. | current Category: current. Psyche 
 The Psyche mission is a journey to a unique metal-rich asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
 . Launch date: Oct. 13, 2023 Mission Category: Mission. | current Category: current. Mission Category: Mission. | current Category: current. Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) 
 The experiment will aim to demonstrate high-bandwidth communications in deep space for the first time.
 . Launch date: Oct. 5, 2023 Mission Category: Mission. | current Category: current. Mission Category: Mission. | current Category: current. Euclid 
 Euclid will investigate the profound cosmic mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.
 . Launch date: July 2023 Mission Category: Mission. | future Category: future. Mission Category: Mission. | future Category: future. Lunar Trailblazer 
 NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer mission will provide new insights into the lunar water cycle.
 . Launch date: 2023 Mission Category: Mission. | current Category: current. Mission Category: Mission.
NASA's Europa Clipper Spacecraft Kicks Assembly Into High Gear – NASA's Europa Clipper
Take a closer look at the complex choreography involved in building NASA’s Europa Clipper as the mission to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa approaches its 2024 launch date.

A Few Steps Closer to Europa: Spacecraft Hardware Makes Headway

Jupiter’s moon Europa may have the potential to harbor life. The spacecraft will use multiple flybys of the moon to investigate the habitability of this ocean world.

NASA's Europa Clipper Builds Hardware, Moves Toward Assembly

In an unprecedented year, the Europa Clipper project continues on the path toward unprecedented science. 

On the Path Towards Unprecedented Science

A mission to examine the habitability of Jupiter's ocean-bearing moon Europa is taking one step closer to the launchpad, with the recent completion of a major NASA review.

NASA's Europa Flyby Mission Moves into Design Phase

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Managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
for
NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

NASA Official/Program Executive: 
Dave Lavery

NASA Official/Program Scientist: 
Curt Niebur

Media Contact: 
Gretchen McCartney

Public Engagement Manager: 
Heather Doyle

Public Engagement Lead: 
Laurance Fauconnet

Social Media Lead: 
Bill Dunford

Science Writer: 
Sandy Marshall

Science Writer: 
Amanda Barnett
NASA's Europa Clipper Mission Completes Main Body of the Spacecraft – NASA's Europa Clipper
NASA's Europa Clipper Mission Completes Main Body of the Spacecraft – NASA's Europa Clipper

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June 7, 2022

NASA's Europa Clipper Mission Completes Main Body of the Spacecraft

Engineers and technicians inspect the main body of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft after it was built and delivered by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, to the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in early June. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman

The agency’s mission to explore Jupiter’s icy moon takes a big step forward as engineers deliver a major component of the spacecraft.
The main body of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft has been delivered to the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Over the next two years there, engineers and technicians will finish assembling the craft by hand before testing it to make sure it can withstand the journey to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.

Engineers and technicians unwrap and inspect the main body of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft after it was built and delivered by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, to the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in early June. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman

 
The spacecraft body is the mission’s workhorse. Standing 10 feet (3 meters) tall and 5 feet (1.5 meters) wide, it’s an aluminum cylinder integrated with electronics, radios, thermal loop tubing, cabling, and the propulsion system. With its solar arrays and other deployable equipment stowed for launch, Europa Clipper will be as large as an SUV; when extended, the solar arrays make the craft the size of a basketball court. It is the largest NASA spacecraft ever developed for a planetary mission.
“It’s an exciting time for the whole project team and a huge milestone,” said Jordan Evans, the mission’s project manager at JPL. “This delivery brings us one step closer to launch and the Europa Clipper science investigation.”
FAQ | Mission – NASA's Europa Clipper
The science includes gathering measurements of the internal ocean, mapping the surface composition and geology, and hunting for plumes of water vapor that may be venting from the icy crust. Learn more about the mission’s science objectives here.

How many instruments will be on the Europa Clipper spacecraft?

NASA has selected nine science instruments for the mission. The selected payload includes cameras and spectrometers to produce high-resolution images of Europa's surface and determine its composition. An ice-penetrating radar will search for subsurface lakes similar to those beneath Antarctica's ice sheet. The mission will also carry a magnetometer and a plasma instrument to measure the strength and direction of the moon's induced magnetic field, which will allow scientists to confirm the existence of Europa’s subsurface ocean and determine its characteristics (e.g., depth and salinity). Contributions from multiple instruments will help constrain ice shell thickness. A thermal instrument will survey Europa's frozen surface in search of recent eruptions of warmer water at or near the surface. Additional instruments will characterize the composition of gases and tiny particles in the moon's thin atmosphere – and search for potential plumes of water vapor that might erupt from the moon’s surface. Learn more about the spacecraft’s instruments here.

Will the Europa Clipper spacecraft discover life?

Europa Clipper is not a life detection mission – its main science goal is to determine whether there are places below Europa’s surface that could support life.

Will anything we learn at Europa tell us more about Earth?

Europa Clipper’s discoveries at Europa will help us better understand many aspects of Earth. For example, Europa is one of the only places beyond Earth where we have found plate tectonics, the motion of portions of the surface crust scientists believe are driven by the fluid-like motions of warm solid layers like the Earth’s mantle and Europa’s icy shell.  Studying this motion, called convection, may be easier on Europa since the surface ice layer is much thinner than Earth’s rocky crust. Europa’s young surface, which lacks many sources of terrestrial erosion such as wind and water, allows us to view the results of tectonic activity in a pristine form.
NASA's Europa Probe Gets a Hotline to Earth – NASA's Europa Clipper
Take a closer look at the complex choreography involved in building NASA’s Europa Clipper as the mission to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa approaches its 2024 launch date.

A Few Steps Closer to Europa: Spacecraft Hardware Makes Headway

Jupiter’s moon Europa may have the potential to harbor life. The spacecraft will use multiple flybys of the moon to investigate the habitability of this ocean world.

NASA's Europa Clipper Builds Hardware, Moves Toward Assembly

In an unprecedented year, the Europa Clipper project continues on the path toward unprecedented science. 

On the Path Towards Unprecedented Science

A mission to examine the habitability of Jupiter's ocean-bearing moon Europa is taking one step closer to the launchpad, with the recent completion of a major NASA review.

NASA's Europa Flyby Mission Moves into Design Phase

Stay Connected

Mission

Overview

Science

Timeline

The Team

History

FAQ

Spacecraft

Meet Europa Clipper

Instruments

Assembly

Vault Plate

Why Europa

Overview

Europa Up Close

Ingredients for Life

Evidence for an Ocean

News

Latest News

Mission Updates

Subscribe

Resources

All Resources

Images

Videos

Activities & Educational Resources

Posters, Stickers, & More

Participate

Participate

Feedback

|

Accessibility

Managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
for
NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

NASA Official/Program Executive: 
Dave Lavery

NASA Official/Program Scientist: 
Curt Niebur

Media Contact: 
Gretchen McCartney

Public Engagement Manager: 
Heather Doyle

Public Engagement Lead: 
Laurance Fauconnet

Social Media Lead: 
Bill Dunford

Science Writer: 
Sandy Marshall

Science Writer: 
Amanda Barnett