NASA's Europa Clipper Science Mission: Why Explore Jupiter’s Ocean Moon?

NASA's Europa Clipper Science Mission: Why Explore Jupiter’s Ocean Moon?

Everywhere there is water on Earth, there is life. Does that hold true elsewhere in our solar system? NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will investigate Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. With its subsurface ocean, Europa is one of the most promising places in our solar system to find environments capable of supporting life.

While Europa Clipper is not a life-detection mission, it will be the first to conduct a detailed survey of this icy moon to answer questions about Europa’s potential habitability and composition. The mission’s main goals are to determine the thickness of Europa’s icy shell; confirm the presence of an ocean; investigate the make-up of that ocean; and characterize the geology of the surface. The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter and make approximately 50 flybys of Europa. It is equipped with an extensive suite of instruments that will work in sync to gather measurements and high-resolution images. 

Europa Clipper is expected to launch in October 2024 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will arrive at the Jupiter system in 2030. 

For more information on the mission, visit: https://europa.nasa.gov/

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/APL

Duration: 5 minutes

Release Date: May 15, 2024

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