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Europa Clipper
 Artist's rendering of the Europa Clipper spacecraft | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Names | Europa Multiple Flyby Mission | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission type | Europa reconnaissance | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Operator | NASA | ||||||||||||||||||||
| COSPAR ID | 2024-182A | ||||||||||||||||||||
| SATCAT no. | 61507 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | europa | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Mission duration | Cruise: 5.5 years[1][2] Science phase: 4 years Elapsed: 3 months, 25 days | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Spacecraft properties | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Manufacturer | Jet Propulsion Laboratory | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Launch mass | 6,065 kg (13,371 lb),[3][4][5] including 2,750 kg (6,060 lb) propellant[6] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Dry mass | 3,241 kg (7,145 lb)[7] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Payload mass | 352 kg (776 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Dimensions | Height: 6 m (20 ft) Solar panel span: 22 m (72 ft)[4] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Power | 600 watts from solar panels[8] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Start of mission | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Launch date | October 14, 2024, 16:06:00 UTC (12:06 p.m. EDT) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Rocket | Falcon Heavy Block 5[9] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Launch site | Kennedy, LC-39A | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Contractor | SpaceX | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Flyby of Mars (gravity assist) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Closest approach | March 1, 2025 1 PM EST[10] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Flyby of Earth (gravity assist) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Closest approach | December 3, 2026 4:15 PM EST[11] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Jupiter orbiter | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Orbital insertion | April 11, 2030 (first closest approach to Europa)[12] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Orbits | 49[4][13] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
 Europa Clipper mission patch Large Strategic Science Missions Planetary Science Division | |||||||||||||||||||||
Europa Clipper (previously known as Europa Multiple Flyby Mission) is a space probe developed by NASA to study Europa, a Galilean moon of Jupiter. It was launched on October 14, 2024.[15] The spacecraft will use gravity assists from Mars on March 1, 2025,[10] and Earth on December 3, 2026,[11] before arriving at Europa in April 2030.[16] The spacecraft will then perform a series of flybys of Europa while in orbit around Jupiter.[17][18]
Europa Clipper is designed to follow up on evidence for a subsurface ocean underneath Europa's ice crust, found using the Galileo spacecraft which orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. Plans to send a spacecraft to Europa were initially conceived with projects such as Europa Orbiter and Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, in which a spacecraft would be inserted into orbit around Europa. However, due to the adverse effects of radiation from the magnetosphere of Jupiter in Europa orbit, it was decided that it would be safer to insert a spacecraft into an elliptical orbit around Jupiter and make 49 close flybys of the moon instead.[19] The Europa Clipper spacecraft is larger than any other used for previous NASA planetary missions.[20]
The spacecraft will analyze the presence of an induced magnetic field around Europa, and attempt to detect plumes of water ejecta from a subsurface ocean; in addition to various other tests.[21]
The mission's name is a reference to the lightweight and fast clipper ships of the 19th century that routinely plied trade routes, since the spacecraft will pass by Europa at a rapid cadence, as frequently as every two weeks. The mission patch, which features a depiction of a sail ship, references the moniker.[22]
Europa Clipper complements the ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, launched in 2023, which will attempt to fly past Europa twice and Callisto multiple times before moving into orbit around Ganymede.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Leonewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Phillips 2014was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Foust, Jeff (January 29, 2021). "NASA seeks input on Europa Clipper launch options". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on October 10, 2022. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
- ^ a b c Europa Clipper Mission. Archived March 18, 2021, at the Wayback Machine Europa Clipper home page at NASA. Retrieved October 2, 2019
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Goldstein, Barry; Kastner, Jason (March 2018). "Weigh Your Options Carefully" (PDF). The Sextant – Europa Clipper Newsletter. Vol. 2, no. 1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 22, 2020. Retrieved September 20, 2018. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Johns Hopkins APL Delivers Propulsion Module for NASA Mission to Europa | Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory". www.jhuapl.edu. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Overview | Mission – NASA's Europa Clipper Archived March 18, 2021, at the Wayback Machine Europa Clipper home page at NASA. Retrieved March 13, 2024 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Goldstein, Barry; Pappalardo, Robert (February 19, 2015). "Europa Clipper Update" (PDF). Outer Planets Assessment Group. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
- ^ Potter, Sean (July 23, 2021). "NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for the Europa Clipper Mission" (Press release). NASA. Archived from the original on July 24, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b "Eyes on the Solar System - NASA/JPL".
- ^ a b "Eyes on the Solar System - NASA/JPL".
- ^ "Eyes on the Solar System - NASA/JPL".
- ^ "All Systems Go for NASA's Mission to Jupiter Moon Europa" (Press release). NASA. June 17, 2015. Archived from the original on March 11, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2019. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Thompson, Jay R. (2022). "Instruments". Europa Clipper. NASA. Archived from the original on May 24, 2021. Retrieved October 10, 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "NASA's Europa Clipper launches aboard SpaceX rocket, bound for Jupiter's icy ocean moon". Los Angeles Times. October 14, 2024. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
- ^ Foust, Jeff (February 10, 2021). "NASA to use commercial launch vehicle for Europa Clipper". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
- ^ Clark, Stuart (March 5, 2023). "'It's like finding needles in a haystack': the mission to discover if Jupiter's moons support life". The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- ^ King, Lucinda; Conversation, The. "If life exists on Jupiter's moon Europa, scientists might soon be able to detect it". phys.org. Archived from the original on April 8, 2024. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
- ^ "Europa Clipper - NASA Science". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
- ^ "How our vision of Europa's habitability is changing". April 19, 2024. Archived from the original on April 24, 2024. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
- ^ "In Depth". NASA's Europa Clipper. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
- ^ Dyches, Preston (March 9, 2017). "NASA Mission Named 'Europa Clipper'". JPL (NASA). Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved October 28, 2017. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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