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This illustration shows NASA's Europa mission spacecraft, which is being developed for a launch sometime in the 2020s.

Jupiter's moon Europa has a crust made up of blocks, which are thought to have broken apart and 'rafted' into new positions, as shown in the image on the left. These features are geologic evidence that Europa may have had a subsurface ocean.

Artist's illustration of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will perform multiple flybys of the ocean-harboring Jupiter moon.

About Image

This illustration shows NASA's Europa mission spacecraft, which is being developed for a launch sometime in the 2020s.NASA/JPL-Caltech

Jupiter's moon Europa has a crust made up of blocks, which are thought to have broken apart and 'rafted' into new positions, as shown in the image on the left. These features are geologic evidence that Europa may have had a subsurface ocean.NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Artist's illustration of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will perform multiple flybys of the ocean-harboring Jupiter moon.NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mission name: Europa Clipper

Europa Clipper Mission

Europa Clipper would conduct detailed reconnaissance of Jupiter's moon Europa and investigate whether the icy moon could harbor conditions suitable for life.

Launch Date October 10, 2024
Mission TypeOrbiter
TargetOuter Solar System

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Mission Overview

The Europa Clipper mission will place a spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter in order to perform a detailed investigation of the giant planet’s moon Europa. Europa shows strong evidence for an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy crust and some astrobiologists believe that it could host conditions favorable for life. The mission will send a highly capable, radiation-tolerant spacecraft into a long, looping orbit around Jupiter to perform repeated close flybys of Europa.

NASA has selected nine science instruments for a the Europa Clipper mission. The selected payload includes cameras and spectrometers to produce high-resolution images of Europa’s surface and determine its composition.

The nominal Europa Clipper would perform 45 flybys of Europa at altitudes varying from 1700 miles to 16 miles (2700 kilometres to 25 kilometres) above the surface.

Relevance to Astrobiology

A primary objective of the Europa Clipper mission is to determine the thickness of the Europa’s icy shell and to search for subsurface lakes similar to those beneath Antarctica’s ice sheet. The mission will also measure the strength and direction of the moon’s magnetic field, which would allow scientists to determine the depth and salinity of its ocean. A thermal instrument will survey Europa’s frozen surface in search of recent eruptions of warmer water at or near the surface, while additional instruments will search for evidence of water and tiny particles in the moon’s thin atmosphere. Studying the composition of expected water vapor plumes on Europa would help scientists investigate the chemical makeup of Europa’s potentially habitable environment while minimizing the need to drill through layers of ice.

NASA Astrobiology Involvement

The NASA Astrobiology Program supports numerous astrobiologists that are involved in the definition of science goals for Europa Clipper and the design of scientific instruments for the mission. The Astrobiology Program also funds astrobiologists who will work with the immense amount of data returned by Europa Clipper.

The Astrobiologists
Below is a selection of astrobiologists directly involved with the Europa Clipper mission.

Science Leadership
Robert Pappalardo, Project Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Europa Investigation Leads
Donald Blankenship, University of Texas, Austin. REASON Principal Investigator.

Science Team
Oleg Abramov, Planetary Science Institute. Co-Investigator of the E-THEMIS instrument team for Europa Clipper.

Morgan Cable, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Collaborator on the imaging spectrometer for the Europa Clipper mission.

Kate Craft, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Project Staff Scientist for the Europa Clipper mission.

Jonathan Lunine, Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science. Project Staff Scientist for the Europa Clipper mission.

Steve Vance, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Project Scientist for the Europa Clipper mission.

Mission news and discoveries

Engineering Astrobiology and ExplorationFebruary 21, 2024

Poised for Science: NASA’s Europa Clipper Instruments Are All Aboard (NASA)January 30, 2024

NASA’s Europa Probe Gets a Hotline to Earth (NASA JPL)August 16, 2023

All News

Mission Facts

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NASA's digital Europa Clipper poster is available at: https://europa.nasa.gov/resources/173/europa-clipper-journey-to-an-ocean-world-poster/

The REASON ice-penetrating radar instrument on NASA’s spacecraft to Europa will emit complementary long and short wavelengths to image the substructure of Europa’s icy shell.

This artist's concept depicts Europa's "Great Lake." Researchers predict many more such lakes are scattered throughout the moon's icy shell.

This is an artist's illustration of a plume of water vapor being ejected off the frigid, icy surface of the Jovian moon Europa.

Enhanced-color view covering a 350 by 750 kilometer swath across the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa. The close-up combines high-resolution image data with lower resolution color data from observations made in 1998 by the Galileo spacecraft.

This artist's concept shows a simulated view from the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa.

NASA's Europa Clipper mission is being designed to fly by the icy Jovian moon multiple times and investigate whether it possesses the ingredients necessary for life.

This composite image shows suspected plumes of water vapor erupting at the 7 o’clock position off the limb of Jupiter’s moon Europa.

Two views of the trailing hemisphere of Jupiter's ice-covered satellite, Europa. The left image shows the approximate natural color appearance. The right is a false-color composite version combining violet, green and infrared images.

Jupiter’s moon EuropaJourney to an Ocean World

NASA has released digital posters and wallpaper featuring the Europa Clipper mission at: https://europa.nasa.gov/resources/173/europa-clipper-journey-to-an-ocean-world-poster/

Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surfaceREASON instrument

REASON will allow researchers to see the subsurface landscape of Europa’s ice shell all the way to the ocean below.

Plasma Instrument for Magnetic SoundingPIMS instrument

This instrument works in conjunction with a magnetometer and is key to determining Europa’s ice shell thickness, ocean depth, and salinity.

nterior Characterization of Europa using MagnetometryICEMAG instrument

This magnetometer will measure the magnetic field near Europa and – with the PIMS instrument – infer the location, thickness and salinity of Europa’s subsurface ocean.

Europa Thermal Emission Imaging SystemE-THEMIS instrument

This “heat detector” will provide high spatial resolution, multi-spectral thermal imaging of Europa to help detect active sites, such as potential vents erupting plumes of water into space.

Europa Imaging SysteEIS instrument

The wide and narrow angle cameras on this instrument will map most of Europa at 50 meter (164 foot) resolution, and will provide images of areas of Europa’s surface at up to 100 times higher resolution.

Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for EuropaMISE instrument

This instrument will probe the composition of Europa, identifying and mapping the distributions of organics, salts, acid hydrates, water ice phases, and other materials to determine the habitability of Europa’s ocean.

MAss SPectrometer for Planetary EXploration/EuropaMASPEX instrument

This instrument will determine the composition of the surface and subsurface ocean by measuring Europa’s extremely tenuous atmosphere and any surface material ejected into space.

Ultraviolet Spectrograph/EuropaUVS instrument

This instrument will adopt the same technique used by the Hubble Space Telescope to detect the likely presence of water plumes erupting from Europa’s surface.

SUrface Dust Mass AnalyzerSUDA instrument

This instrument will measure the composition of small, solid particles ejected from Europa, providing the opportunity to directly sample the surface and potential plumes on low-altitude flybys.

SPace Environmental and Composition Investigation near the Europan SurfaceSPECIES instrument

This combined neutral mass spectrometer and gas chromatograph will be developed for other mission opportunities.

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