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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. The spacecraft used a gravity assist from Mars on March 1, 2025, and it will use a gravity assist from Earth on December 3, 2026, before arriving at Europa in April 2030. The spacecraft will then perform a series of flybys of Europa while orbiting Jupiter.
Europa Clipper is designed to study evidence for a subsurface ocean underneath Europa's ice crust, found by the Galileo spacecraft which orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. Plans to send a spacecraft to Europa were 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 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 Elliptic orbit around Jupiter and make 49 close flybys of the moon instead. The Europa Clipper spacecraft is larger than any previous spacecraft for NASA planetary missions.
The orbiter will analyze the induced magnetic field around Europa, and attempt to detect plumes of water ejecta from a subsurface ocean; in addition to various other tests.
The mission's name is a reference to the lightweight, fast Clipper 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 depicts a sailing ship, references the moniker.
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.
At the same time as the proposal of the Discovery-class Europa Orbiter, the robotic Galileo spacecraft was already orbiting Jupiter. From December 8, 1995, to December 7, 1997, Galileo conducted the primary mission after entering the orbit of Jupiter. On that final date, the Galileo orbiter commenced an extended mission known as the Galileo Europa Mission (GEM), which ran until December 31, 1999. This was a low-cost mission extension with a budget of only US$30 million. The smaller team of about 40–50 people (compared with the primary mission's 200-person team from 1995 to 1997) did not have the resources to deal with problems, but when they arose, it was able to temporarily recall former team members (called "tiger teams") for intensive efforts to solve them. The spacecraft made several flybys of Europa (8), Callisto (4) and Io (2). On each flyby of the three moons it encountered, the spacecraft collected only two days' worth of data instead of the seven it had collected during the primary mission. During GEM's eight flybys of Europa, it ranged from , in two years.
Europa has been identified as one of the locations in the Solar System that could possibly harbor microbial extraterrestrial life. Immediately following the Galileo spacecraft's discoveries and the independent Discovery program proposal for a Europa orbiter, JPL conducted preliminary mission studies that envisioned a capable spacecraft such as the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (a US$16 billion mission concept), the Jupiter Europa Orbiter (a US$4.3 billion concept), another orbiter (US$2 billion concept), and a multi-flyby spacecraft: Europa Clipper.
A mission to Europa was recommended by the National Research Council in 2013. The approximate cost estimate rose from US$2 billion in 2013 to US$4.25 billion in 2020. NASA Europa Mission Could Potentially Spot Signs of Alien Life , Mike Wall, Space.com, October 26, 2019 The mission is a joint project between the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
In May 2015, NASA chose nine instruments that would fly on board the orbiter, budgeted to cost about US$110 million over the next three years. In June 2015, NASA approved the mission concept, allowing the orbiter to move to its formulation stage. In January 2016, NASA approved the addition of a lander, but this was canceled in 2017 because it was deemed too risky. In May 2016, the Ocean Worlds Exploration Program was approved, of which the Europa mission is part.
In February 2017, the mission moved from Phase A to Phase B (the preliminary design phase). On July 18, 2017, the House Space Subcommittee held hearings on the Europa Clipper as a scheduled Large Strategic Science Missions class, and to discuss a possible follow up mission simply known as the Europa Lander. Phase B continued into 2019. In addition, subsystem vendors were selected, as well as prototype hardware elements for the science instruments. Spacecraft sub-assemblies were built and tested as well.
On March 3, 2022, the spacecraft moved on to Phase D: assembly, testing, and launch. On June 7, 2022, the main body of the spacecraft was completed. By August 2022, the high-gain antenna had completed its major testing campaigns.
By January 30, 2024, all of the science instruments were added to the spacecraft. The reason the instrument's electronics were aboard the spacecraft is because, while its antennas were added to the spacecraft's solar arrays at Kennedy Space Center later in the year, the former were not. In March 2024, it was reported that the spacecraft underwent successful testing and was on track for launch later in the year. In May 2024, the spacecraft arrived at Kennedy Space Center for final launch preparations. In September 2024, final pre-launch review was successfully completed, clearing the way for launch. In early October 2024, due to the incoming Hurricane Milton, the spacecraft was placed in secure storage for safekeeping until the hurricane passed.
Studies by scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory show that by performing several flybys with many months to return data, the Europa Clipper concept will enable a US$2 billion mission to conduct the most crucial measurements of the canceled US$4.3 billion Jupiter Europa Orbiter concept. Between each of the flybys, the spacecraft will have seven to ten days to transmit data stored during each brief encounter. That will let the spacecraft have up to a year of time to transmit its data compared to just 30 days for an orbiter. The result will be almost three times as much data returned to Earth, while reducing exposure to radiation. Europa Clipper will not orbit Europa, but will instead orbit Jupiter and conduct 44 flybys of Europa, each at altitudes ranging from during its 3.5-year mission. A key feature of the mission concept is that Europa Clipper would use from Europa, Ganymede and Callisto to change its trajectory, allowing the spacecraft to return to a different close approach point with each flyby. Each flyby would cover a different sector of Europa to achieve a medium-quality global topographic survey, including ice thickness. Europa Clipper could conceivably fly by at low altitude through the plumes of water vapor erupting from the moon's ice crust, thus sampling its subsurface ocean without having to land on the surface and drill through the ice.
The spacecraft is expected to receive a total ionizing dose of during the mission. Shielding from Jupiter's harsh radiation belt will be provided by a radiation vault with thick aluminum alloy walls, which enclose the spacecraft electronics. To maximize the effectiveness of this shielding, the electronics are also nested in the core of the spacecraft for additional radiation protection.
The spacecraft bus is a 5-meter-long combination of a 150-cm-wide aluminum cylindrical propulsion module and a rectangular box. The electronic components are protected from the intense radiation by a 150-kilogram titanium, zinc and aluminum shielded vault in the box.
Each panel has a surface area of and produces 150 watts continuously when pointed towards the Sun while orbiting Jupiter. While in Europa's shadow, batteries will enable the spacecraft to continue gathering data. However, ionizing radiation can damage solar panels. The Europa Clipper orbit will pass through Jupiter's intense magnetosphere, which is expected to gradually degrade the solar panels as the mission progresses. The solar panels were provided by Airbus Defence and Space, Netherlands.
The principal investigator is Philip Christensen of Arizona State University. This instrument is derived from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter, also developed by Philip Christensen.
The principal investigator is Diana Blaney of Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the instrument was built in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL).
The principal investigator is Kurt Retherford of Southwest Research Institute. Retherford was previously a member of the group that discovered plumes erupting from Europa while using the Hubble Space Telescope in the UV spectrum.
The principal investigator is Donald Blankenship of the University of Texas at Austin. This instrument was built by Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The instrument team leader is Margaret Kivelson, University of Michigan.
ECM replaced the proposed Interior Characterization of Europa using Magnetometry (ICEMAG) instrument, which was canceled due to cost overruns. ECM is a simpler and cheaper magnetometer than ICEMAG would have been.
The principal investigator is Joseph Westlake of the Applied Physics Laboratory.
Jack Waite, who led development of MASPEX, was also Science Team Lead of the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) on the Cassini spacecraft. The principal investigator is Jim Burch of Southwest Research Institute, who was previously the leader of the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission.
The principal investigator is Sascha Kempf of the University of Colorado Boulder.
The instrument team leader is Erwan Mazarico of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
On January 25, 2021, NASA's Planetary Missions Program Office formally directed the mission team to "immediately cease efforts to maintain SLS compatibility" and move forward with a commercial launch vehicle.
On February 10, 2021, it was announced that the mission would use a 5.5-year trajectory to the Jovian system, with gravity-assist maneuvers involving Mars (March 1, 2025) and Earth (December 3, 2026). Launch was targeted for a 21-day period between October 10 and 30, 2024, giving an arrival date in April 2030, and backup launch dates were identified in 2025 and 2026.
The SLS option would have entailed a direct trajectory to Jupiter taking less than three years. One alternative to the direct trajectory was identified as using a commercial rocket, with a longer 6-year cruise time involving gravity assist maneuvers at Venus, Earth and/or Mars. Additionally, a launch on a Delta IV Heavy with a gravity assist at Venus was considered.
In July 2021 the decision was announced to launch on a Falcon Heavy rocket, in fully expendable configuration. Three reasons were given: reasonable launch cost (ca. $178 million), questionable SLS availability, and possible damage to the payload due to strong vibrations caused by the solid boosters attached to the SLS launcher. The move to Falcon Heavy saved an estimated US$2 billion in launch costs alone. NASA was not sure an SLS would be available for the mission since the Artemis program would use SLS rockets extensively, and the SLS's use of solid rocket boosters (SRBs) generates more vibrations in the payload than a launcher that does not use SRBs. The cost to redesign Europa Clipper for the SLS vibratory environment was estimated at US$1 billion.
, the trajectory in the Jupiter system is planned as follows. After entry into the Jupiter system, Europa Clipper will perform a flyby of Ganymede at an altitude of , which will reduce the spacecraft velocity by ~. This will be followed by firing the main engine at a distance of 11 Rj (Jovian radii), to provide a further ~ of delta-V, sufficient to insert the spacecraft into a 202-day orbit around Jupiter. Once the spacecraft reaches the apoapsis of that initial orbit, it will perform another engine burn to provide a ~ periapsis raise maneuver (PRM).
The spacecraft's cruise and science phases will overlap with the ESA's JUICE spacecraft, which was launched in April 2023 and will arrive at Jupiter in July 2031. Europa Clipper is due to arrive at Jupiter 15 months prior to JUICE, despite a launch date planned 18 months later, owing to a more powerful launch vehicle and a faster flight plan with fewer gravity assists.
The poem is engraved on Europa Clipper inside a tantalum metal plate, about , that seals an opening into the vault. The inward-facing side of the metal plate is engraved with the poem in the poet's own handwriting. The public participants' names are etched onto a microchip attached to the plate, within an artwork of a wine bottle surrounded by the four Galilean moons. After registering their names, participants received a digital ticket with details of the mission's launch and destination. According to NASA, 2,620,861 people signed their names to Europa Clipper's Message in a Bottle, most of whom were from the United States. Other elements etched on the inwards side together with the poem and names are the Drake equation, representations of the of a hydrogen atom and the hydroxyl radical, together known as the water hole, and a portrait of planetary scientist Ron Greeley. The outward-facing panel features art that highlights Earth's connection to Europa. Linguists collected recordings of the word "water" spoken in 103 languages, from families of languages around the world. The audio files were converted into waveforms and etched into the plate. The waveforms radiate out from a symbol representing the American Sign Language sign for "water". The research organization METI International gathered the audio files for the words for "water", and its president Douglas Vakoch designed the water hole component of the message.
Launch
Europa Clipper was originally scheduled to launch on October 10, two days after a Falcon 9 launched the ESA's Hera to 65803 Didymos from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on a similar interplanetary trajectory. However, this launch attempt was scrubbed due to Hurricane Milton making landfall in Florida the previous day, resulting in the launch being finalized for several days later. Europa Clipper was launched on October 14, 2024, at 12:06 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on a Falcon Heavy. The rocket's boosters and first stage were both expended as a result of the spacecraft's mass and trajectory; the boosters were previously flown five times (including on the launch of Psyche for NASA and an X-37B for the United States Space Force), while the center stage was only flown for this mission.
Transit and observation
The trajectory of Europa Clipper started with a gravity assist from Mars on March 1, 2025, causing the probe to slow down a little (speed reduced by 2 kilometers per second) and modifying its orbit around the Sun such that it will allow the spacecraft to fly by Earth on December 3, 2026, gaining additional speed. The probe will then arc (reach aphelion) beyond Jupiter's orbit on October 4, 2029 See also the point at which deldot equals 0 for Clipper relative to the Sun in the Horizons system app. before slowly falling into Jupiter's gravity well and executing its orbital insertion burn in April 2030.
Public outreach
To raise public awareness of the Europa Clipper mission, NASA undertook a "Message In A Bottle" campaign, i.e. an actual "Send Your Name to Europa" campaign on June 1, 2023, through which people around the world were invited to send their names as signatories to a poem called "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa" written by the U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, for the 2.9-billion-kilometer (1.8-billion mi) voyage to Jupiter. The poem describes the connections between Earth and Europa.
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