vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
NASA's Europa Clipper Spacecraft Kicks Assembly Into High Gear – NASA's Europa Clipper
Also moving soon to High Bay 1 will be the aluminum electronics vault, which will be bolted to the main body of the spacecraft, protecting the electronics inside from Jupiter’s intense radiation. The electronics enable Europa Clipper’s computer to communicate with the spacecraft’s antennae, science instruments, and the subsystems that will keep them alive.

Europa Clipper’s vault, with the nadir deck attached, is prepared for a move to the High Bay 1 clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at JPL. The vault will protect the spacecraft’s electronics, while the nadir deck will provide a stable platform for science instruments. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Bright copper cabling snaking around the orbiter’s aluminum core contains thousands of wires and connectors handcrafted at APL. If placed end to end, the cabling would stretch almost 2,100 feet (640 meters) – enough to wrap around a U.S. football field twice. 
Inside the core are Europa Clipper’s two propulsion tanks. The fuel and oxidizer they’ll hold will flow to an array of 24 engines, where they will create a controlled chemical reaction to produce thrust in deep space.
By the end of 2022, most of the flight hardware and the remainder of the science instruments are expected to be complete. Then, the next steps will be a wide variety of tests as the spacecraft moves toward its 2024 launch period. After traveling for nearly six years and over 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers), it will achieve orbit around Jupiter in 2030.
More About the Mission
Missions such as Europa Clipper contribute to the field of astrobiology, the interdisciplinary research field that studies the conditions of distant worlds that could harbor life as we know it. While Europa Clipper is not a life-detection mission, it will conduct a detailed exploration 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.
Europa Mission to Probe Magnetic Field and Chemistry – NASA's Europa Clipper
Europa Mission to Probe Magnetic Field and Chemistry – NASA's Europa Clipper

NASA

Europa Clipper

Skip Navigation

menu

close modal

News

| May 27, 2015

Europa Mission to Probe Magnetic Field and Chemistry

NASA announced the selection of nine instruments for a future Europa mission on May 27, including two led by JPL researchers. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/DLR

Two powerful science investigations will help unravel the mystery of whether Jupiter's icy moon Europa might have the right conditions for life, when a new NASA mission heads there sometime in the 2020s. Led by researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the instruments include an infrared imaging spectrometer and a magnetometer.
NASA announced selection of ICEMAG, MISE and seven other investigations for the Europa mission's science payload on May 26, 2015. The space agency received 33 proposals for science instruments to fly onboard its planned Europa mission, which would orbit Jupiter and conduct repeated close flybys of the small moon during a three-year period.
ICEMAG, for Interior Characterization of Europa using Magnetometry, will observe the magnetic field near Europa with greatly enhanced sensitivity compared to a similar instrument carried by NASA's Galileo spacecraft, which orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003.
Galileo found that Jupiter's magnetic-field lines were bent in the space around Europa. This strongly implies that a special type of magnetic field is being created -- or induced -- within the icy moon by a deep layer of some electrically conductive fluid beneath the surface. Since Europa's composition includes water ice, scientists determined the most likely explanation for the induced magnetic field is a global ocean of salty water. The magnetic field data from ICEMAG will take Galileo's measurements to the next level.
"The nature of the subsurface ocean and how it interacts with the surface is critical to evaluating Europa's potential habitability," said ICEMAG Principal Investigator Carol Raymond of JPL. "Knowledge of the ocean properties helps us understand Europa’s evolution and allows evaluation of processes that have cycled material between the depths and the surface."
Europa Clipper's Thermal Imager Delivered to JPL – NASA's Europa Clipper
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

Europa Clipper’s mass spectrometer was delivered to JPL in December 2022. 

Europa Clipper's Mass Spectrometer Delivered to JPL

The enormous spacecraft that will head to Jupiter’s moon Europa uses four large reaction wheels to help keep it oriented.

NASA's Europa Clipper Gets Its Wheels for Traveling in Deep Space

Europa Clipper’s surface dust analyzer instrument was delivered to JPL in September 2022. 

Europa Clipper's Surface Dust Analyzer Instrument Delivered to JPL 

The approximately 10-foot-diameter (3-meter-diameter) HGA will beam back information from Europa Clipper’s nine instruments, which will gather data on Europa’s atmosphere, surface, and interior.

Europa Clipper's High-Gain Antenna Undergoes Precision Testing at NASA Langley

The spacecraft will occupy the main production facility of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as it prepares for its 2024 launch to Jupiter’s moon Europa.

NASA's Europa Clipper Spacecraft Kicks Assembly Into High Gear

Carlisa Drew went from being a commercial electrician to wiring the electrical system for NASA’s Europa Clipper propulsion module. 

Mission Dispatch: Wiring Europa Clipper's Propulsion Module

The agency’s mission to explore Jupiter’s icy moon takes a big step forward as engineers deliver a major component of the spacecraft.

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

Science instruments and other hardware for the spacecraft will come together in the mission’s final phase before a launch to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa in 2024.

NASA Begins Assembly of Europa Clipper Spacecraft
Time Is Running Out to Add Your Name to NASA's Europa Clipper – NASA's Europa Clipper
301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

Europa News

The spacecraft arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 23, 2024, for launch preparations.

NASA's Europa Clipper Makes Cross-Country Flight to Florida

Imagery from NASA's Juno spacecraft shows some intriguing features on the ice-encased Jovian moon.

NASA's Juno Provides High-Definition Views of Europa's Icy Shell

NASA has selected 40 undergraduate students for the first year of its Europa ICONS (Inspiring Clipper: Opportunities for Next-generation Scientists) internship program.

NASA Selects Students for Europa Clipper Intern Program

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

A gantlet of tests prepared the spacecraft for its challenging trip to the Jupiter system, where it will explore the icy moon Europa and its subsurface ocean.

NASA's Europa Clipper Survives and Thrives in ‘Outer Space' on Earth

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
NASA's Europa Probe Gets a Hotline to Earth – NASA's Europa Clipper
Just over the past year, he’s seen the antenna crisscross the country in the lead-up to the installation. Its ability to beam data precisely was tested twice in 2022 at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Between those two visits, the antenna made a stop at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for vibration and thermal vacuum testing to see if it could handle the shaking of launch and the extreme temperatures of outer space.
Then it was on to JPL in October 2022 for installation on the spacecraft in preparation for shipment next year to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The long journey to Jupiter begins with launch from Kennedy in October 2024.
Europa in Their Sights
“The high-gain antenna is a critical piece in the buildup of Europa Clipper,” said Jordan Evans, the Clipper project manager at JPL. “It represents a very visible piece of hardware that provides the capability that the spacecraft needs to send the science data back from Europa. Not only does it look like a spacecraft now that it has the big antenna, but it’s ready for its upcoming critical tests as we progress towards launch.”
The spacecraft will train nine science instruments on Europa, all producing large amounts of rich data: high-resolution color and stereo images to study its geology and surface; thermal images in infrared light to find warmer areas where water could be near the surface; reflected infrared light to map ices, salts, and organics; and ultraviolet light readings to help determine the makeup of atmospheric gases and surface materials.
Clipper will bounce ice-penetrating radar off the subsurface ocean to determine its depth, as well as the thickness of the ice crust above it. A magnetometer will measure the moon’s magnetic field to confirm the deep ocean’s existence and the thickness of the ice.

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

The high-gain antenna will stream most of that data back to Earth over the course of 33 to 52 minutes.
10 Things to Know About Europa Clipper's Science Instruments – NASA's Europa Clipper
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

The enormous spacecraft that will head to Jupiter’s moon Europa uses four large reaction wheels to help keep it oriented.

NASA's Europa Clipper Gets Its Wheels for Traveling in Deep Space

The spacecraft will occupy the main production facility of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as it prepares for its 2024 launch to Jupiter’s moon Europa.

NASA's Europa Clipper Spacecraft Kicks Assembly Into High Gear

Carlisa Drew went from being a commercial electrician to wiring the electrical system for NASA’s Europa Clipper propulsion module. 

Mission Dispatch: Wiring Europa Clipper's Propulsion Module

The agency’s mission to explore Jupiter’s icy moon takes a big step forward as engineers deliver a major component of the spacecraft.

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

The instrument to measure the surface temperature of Jupiter’s moon Europa has arrived at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

Europa Clipper's Thermal Imager Delivered to JPL

The MISE team recently achieved a milestone for any telescope: first light.

Mission Dispatch: Imaging Spectrometer's First Light

Science instruments and other hardware for the spacecraft will come together in the mission’s final phase before a launch to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa in 2024.

NASA Begins Assembly of Europa Clipper Spacecraft

Europa Clipper will need to know its orientation while traveling from Earth to Jupiter and in orbit around Jupiter. To accomplish this, it will use the stars. 

Mission Dispatch: Tracking the Stars
All Systems Go for NASA's Mission to Jupiter Moon Europa – NASA's Europa Clipper
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón Meets NASA JPL Director Laurie Leshin

U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón Visits Mission Control at NASA's JPL

Europa Clipper Vault Plate - Poem Close-Up

More resources ›

[19]

Related News

NASA has selected 40 undergraduate students for the first year of its Europa ICONS (Inspiring Clipper: Opportunities for Next-generation Scientists) internship program.

NASA Selects Students for Europa Clipper Intern Program

A new NASA study offers an explanation of how quakes could be the source of the mysteriously smooth terrain on moons circling Jupiter and Saturn. 

Icy Moonquakes: Surface Shaking Could Trigger Landslides 

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

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

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.

Greenland Ice, Jupiter Moon Share Similar Feature

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.

NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Europa Clipper Mission

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.
NASA's Europa Mission Begins with Selection of Science Instruments – NASA's Europa Clipper
Scientists discovered that the yellow color visible on portions of the surface of Europa is actually sodium chloride, a compound known on Earth as table salt, which is also the principal component of sea salt.

Table Salt Compound Spotted on Europa

A full-scale prototype antenna, which at 10 feet tall is the same height as a standard basketball hoop, is in the Experimental Test Range (ETR) at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Europa Clipper High Gain Antenna Undergoes Testing at Langley

Students and families can meet a Mars rover, take a virtual tour through our solar system and explore alien worlds with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the Clippers SciFest SoCal.

Catch NASA's JPL at the Clippers SciFest This Weekend

NASA has decided to replace the current magnetometer on the upcoming Europa Clipper mission with a less complex instrument. 

NASA Seeks New Options for Science Instrument on Europa Clipper

New comprehensive mapping of the radiation pummeling Jupiter’s icy moon Europa reveals where scientists should look -- and how deep they’ll have to go -- when searching for signs of habitability and biosignatures.

Radiation Maps of Europa: Key to Future Missions

New animation shows how “bands” and “grooves” in the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa could transport subsurface water to the moon’s surface. 

Europa's Ocean Ascending

Scientists re-examining data from an old mission bring new insights to the tantalizing question of whether Jupiter’s moon Europa has the ingredients to support life.

Old Data Reveal New Evidence of Europa Plumes

Click for more

PIMS

Click for more

Prominent "X" on Europa

Click for more

Europa Clipper Vault Plate Positioned

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
Mission Dispatch: Using Radar to Study Earth and Europa – NASA's Europa Clipper
Mission Dispatch: Using Radar to Study Earth and Europa – NASA's Europa Clipper

NASA

Europa Clipper

Skip Navigation

menu

close modal

Mission Updates

| April 26, 2022

Mission Dispatch: Using Radar to Study Earth and Europa

Earth and Jupiter’s moon Europa have something in common: a liquid water ocean. Despite being one-fourth of Earth’s diameter, Europa likely has a subsurface ocean containing more than twice as much water as we have on Earth. But Europa’s ocean is hidden beneath a shell of ice thicker than any ice on Earth. How will Europa Clipper see through it to study Europa’s ocean?
Looking Into Earth’s Ice

Dustin Schroeder, as a graduate student, monitors a computer console aboard a science aircraft flying over Antarctica in 2009. Schroeder is now a radioglaciologist at Stanford and a team member of Europa Clipper’s REASON investigation, which will use ice-penetrating radar to see within Europa’s icy shell. For decades, researchers have used this technology to study the interior of Earth’s ice sheets and glaciers. Credit: Jamin Greenbaum

Related news

Greenland Ice, Jupiter Moon Share Similar Feature

Europa Clipper’s REASON instrument will peer through Europa’s ice with radar, seek the ocean below, and study the ice’s structure and thickness.
Only a handful of spacecraft have visited the solar system’s outer planets, and none carried ice-penetrating radar to view oceans below the surface. In addition to Europa Clipper, the European Space Agency’s JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (or JUICE) spacecraft will carry an ice-penetrating radar called the Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (or RIME) instrument. JUICE will launch in 2023 and arrive in 2031, and Europa Clipper will launch in 2024 and arrive in 2030.
While Europa Clipper and JUICE will be the first to carry this type of radar, it’s not a new technology. Ice-penetrating radar have been used by researchers to probe Earth’s ice sheets for over half a century.
Old Data Reveal New Evidence of Europa Plumes – NASA's Europa Clipper
NASA will host a Science Chat at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT Monday, May 14), to discuss the latest analysis of Jupiter’s moon Europa and its status as one of the most promising places in the solar system to search for life.

NASA Hosts Live Discussion about Europa Findings, Potential for Life

The Europa Clipper project team continues to grow as we move into more detailed design of the equipment, and it is gratifying to see such a geographically distributed team work well together. 

The Sextant: Europa Clipper Newsletter

This color-enhanced image of Jupiter and two of its largest moons – Io and Europa – was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft as it performed its eighth flyby of the gas giant planet.

Juno Observes Jupiter, Io and Europa

Two veteran NASA missions are providing new details about icy, ocean-bearing moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

NASA Missions Provide New Insights into 'Ocean Worlds' in Our Solar System

NASA's upcoming mission to investigate the habitability of Jupiter's icy moon Europa now has a formal name: Europa Clipper.

NASA Mission Named 'Europa Clipper'

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

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have imaged what may be water vapor plumes erupting off the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa. 

NASA's Hubble Spots Possible Water Plumes Erupting on Jupiter's Moon Europa

A new NASA study modeling conditions in the ocean of Jupiter's moon Europa suggests that the necessary balance of chemical energy for life could exist there, even if the moon lacks volcanic hydrothermal activity.

Europa's Ocean May Have An Earthlike Chemical Balance

Click for more

Europa's Crisscrossed Ridges and Fractures

Click for more

REASON

Click for more

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

Stay Connected

Mission

Overview

Science

Timeline

The Team

History

FAQ

Spacecraft

Meet Europa Clipper

Instruments
EIS | Instruments – NASA's Europa Clipper
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

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

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

The enormous spacecraft that will head to Jupiter’s moon Europa uses four large reaction wheels to help keep it oriented.

NASA's Europa Clipper Gets Its Wheels for Traveling in Deep Space

The spacecraft will occupy the main production facility of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as it prepares for its 2024 launch to Jupiter’s moon Europa.

NASA's Europa Clipper Spacecraft Kicks Assembly Into High Gear

The instruments and other flight hardware delivered will play a critical role in Europa Clipper achieving its science objectives. 

Plasma Detection Instrument and Europa Imaging System Wide-Angle Camera Delivered to JPL

Carlisa Drew went from being a commercial electrician to wiring the electrical system for NASA’s Europa Clipper propulsion module. 

Mission Dispatch: Wiring Europa Clipper's Propulsion Module