Europa Clipper

A NASA spacecraft launched in 2024 to investigate Europa through repeated close flybys, measuring its ice shell, subsurface ocean, geology, and environment to assess habitability.

Jupiter: The Solar System’s largest planet and the central body of the system containing Europa. Europa Clipper loops around Jupiter to make repeated close passes by Europa.
Europa: Jupiter’s icy moon, whose surface and induced magnetic field provide evidence for a subsurface ocean. It is the target world whose habitability the mission will assess.
Galileo spacecraft: A NASA mission that orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003 and made repeated observations of its moons. Its magnetic and geological observations strengthened the case for Europa’s ocean.
Planetary habitability: The capacity of an environment to support life, given suitable conditions and resources. Europa Clipper assesses whether Europa has conditions that could support life.
JUICE: The European Space Agency mission launched in 2023 to study Jupiter and its icy moons, especially Ganymede. JUICE explores the wider Jupiter system and Ganymede, while Europa Clipper focuses on Europa.
Europa Clipper trajectory: The spacecraft’s planned path through the Jupiter system, including repeated Europa flybys. The trajectory limits radiation exposure while enabling many measurements at close range.
Europa's subsurface ocean: A global liquid-water layer inferred beneath Europa’s outer ice shell. Its depth, salinity, and relationship to the rocky interior are central mission questions.
Europa Orbiter: A proposed NASA spacecraft from the 1990s designed to orbit Europa and investigate its ocean and ice. Its science goals and technical studies helped shape later Europa mission concepts.
Ocean worlds: Planetary bodies that contain, or are strongly suspected to contain, substantial liquid-water oceans. Europa Clipper advances methods for investigating oceans hidden beneath ice.
Europa lander: A proposed mission concept for placing a spacecraft on Europa’s surface to analyze ice and nearby material. A lander would make local surface measurements that Europa Clipper’s flybys cannot provide.

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