NASA’s Europa Clipper mission has begun its journey to Jupiter to study Europa, a moon with a subsurface ocean that may support life. Launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, this is the largest spacecraft ever built by NASA for a mission to another planet. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles on a trajectory that will utilize gravity assists to reach Jupiter in April 2030. After entering Jupiter’s orbit, Europa Clipper will fly past Europa 49 times as it seeks to determine the moon’s potential habitability.
The mission is focused on determining whether Europa has conditions that could support life. NASA’s Galileo mission in the 1990s provided strong evidence that Europa’s icy shell covers an enormous, salty ocean larger than Earth’s combined oceans. Scientists believe Europa may also contain organic compounds and energy sources under its surface. If Europa is found to be habitable, it could indicate the presence of more habitable worlds in our solar system and beyond.
Europa Clipper is equipped with nine science instruments, including an ice-penetrating radar, cameras, and a thermal instrument to detect warmer ice areas and possible water eruptions. The spacecraft’s largest solar arrays ever used for an interplanetary mission will power these instruments in Jupiter’s faint sunlight. With over 4,000 contributors since its approval in 2015, Europa Clipper is a collaborative effort to explore Jupiter’s moon and expand our understanding of the solar system.
Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA JPL leads the Europa Clipper mission development in partnership with Johns Hopkins APL in Maryland. The spacecraft was designed by APL in collaboration with several NASA centers including JPL, Goddard Space Flight Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, and Langley Research Center. NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center managed the launch service for Europa Clipper, beginning its journey towards uncovering the mysteries of an ocean world and the possibility of life beyond Earth.
As Europa Clipper embarks on its mission, the team is excited about the scientific discoveries it will deliver in the coming years. By exploring Europa’s icy shell, thin atmosphere, and deep interior, the spacecraft aims to advance our knowledge of potentially habitable worlds. With its sophisticated suite of instruments and gravity experiment, Europa Clipper will gather data to better understand Europa’s composition, geology, and interactions between its icy shell and subsurface ocean. This mission represents a significant step in the ongoing quest to answer the question of whether we are alone in the universe.