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Europa Clipper

Europa Clipper

Launch Date	TBD (2020s)
Launch Site	Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA
Destination	Europa
Type	Orbiter
Status	In Development
Nation	United States
Alternate Names

Goals

Conduct detailed reconnaissance of Jupiter's moon Europa to see whether the icy moon could harbor conditions suitable for life. The mission will carry a highly capable, radiation-tolerant spacecraft that will perform repeated close flybys of the icy moon from a long, looping orbit around Jupiter.

Accomplishments

This mission is in development.

The search for life beyond Earth needs robots. But to explore distant ocean worlds like Europa, we’ll need a new set of tools to drill through ice, reach faraway samples and cross difficult terrain.

Spacecraft

Launch Vehicle: TBD

Spacecraft Mass: TBD

Spacecraft Instruments:

Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding (PIMS)
Interior Characterization of Europa using MAGnetometry (ICEMAG)
Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE)
Europa Imaging System (EIS)
Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface (REASON)
Europa THermal Emission Imaging System (E-THEMIS)
MAss SPectrometer for Planetary EXploration/Europa (MASPEX)
Ultraviolet Spectrograph/Europa (UVS)

Europa Clipper News

New comprehensive mapping of the radiation pummeling Jupiter’s icy moon Europa reveals where scientists should look -- and how deep they’ll have to go -- when searching for signs of habitability and biosignatures.

Radiation Maps of Europa: Key to Future Missions

Radiation Maps of Europa: Key to Future Missions

Simulating alien worlds, designing spacecraft with origami and using tiny fossils to understand the lives of ancient organisms are all in a day’s work for NASA interns.

10 Ways Interns Are Exploring Space With NASA

10 Ways Interns Are Exploring Space With NASA

NASA's Opportunity rover has been silent since June 10, when a planet-encircling dust storm cut off solar power for the nearly-15-year-old rover. Now that scientists think the global dust storm is "decaying" -- meaning more dust is falling out of the atmosphere than is being raised back into it -- skies might soon clear enough for the solar-powered rover to recharge and attempt to "phone home."

Six Things About Opportunity's Recovery Efforts

Six Things About Opportunity's Recovery Efforts

Hours before the rise of the very star it will study, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe launched from Florida Sunday to begin its journey to the Sun, where it will undertake a landmark mission.

NASA, ULA Launch Parker Solar Probe on Historic Journey to Touch Sun

NASA, ULA Launch Parker Solar Probe on Historic Journey to Touch Sun

Launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Parker Solar Probe will make its journey all the way to the Sun’s atmosphere, or corona — closer to the Sun than any spacecraft in history.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is About to Lift Off

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is About to Lift Off

A new paper published in Science this week suggests that liquid water may be sitting under a layer of ice at Mars' south pole.

NASA Statement on Possible Subsurface Lake near Martian South Pole

NASA Statement on Possible Subsurface Lake near Martian South Pole

The European Space Agency announced that radar data collected by its Mars Express spacecraft point to a pond of liquid water buried under layers of ice and dust in the south polar region of Mars.

ESA: Mars Express Detects Liquid Water Hidden Under Planet’s South Pole

ESA: Mars Express Detects Liquid Water Hidden Under Planet’s South Pole

Marking the anniversary of New Horizons' historic flight through the Pluto system on July 14, 2015, mission scientists have released the most accurate natural color images of Pluto and Charon.

The True Colors of Pluto and Charon

The True Colors of Pluto and Charon

Scientists with NASA's Mars orbiters have been waiting years for an event like the current Mars global dust storm.

'Storm Chasers' on Mars Searching for Dusty Secrets

'Storm Chasers' on Mars Searching for Dusty Secrets

Twelve new moons orbiting Jupiter have been found—11 “normal” outer moons, and one that they’re calling an “oddball.” This brings Jupiter’s total number of known moons to a whopping 79.

A Dozen New Moons of Jupiter Discovered

A Dozen New Moons of Jupiter Discovered

Juno’s JIRAM instrument points to a new heat source close to the south pole of Io that could indicate a previously undiscovered volcano.

NASA Juno Data Indicate Another Possible Volcano on Jupiter Moon Io

NASA Juno Data Indicate Another Possible Volcano on Jupiter Moon Io

Three of the world's largest radio telescopes have revealed that a near-Earth asteroid discovered last year is actually two objects, nearly equal in size, orbiting each other.

Observatories Team Up to Reveal Rare Double Asteroid

Observatories Team Up to Reveal Rare Double Asteroid