The Mission
Explore Jupiter’s tantalizing moon Europa and reveal whether its vast hidden ocean might hold the keys to life.
Europa Clipper is the first mission designed to conduct a detailed study of Jupiter's moon Europa.
Scientists are almost certain a deep, global ocean exists beneath Europa’s icy crust. And where there is water, there could be life, making the moon one of the most promising places out there to hunt for it.
The $5.2 billion mission almost got derailed by transistors.
NASA didn’t learn until spring that Clipper’s transistors might be more vulnerable to Jupiter’s intense radiation field than anticipated.
Clipper will endure the equivalent of several million chest X-rays during each of the 49 Europa flybys. The space agency spent months reviewing everything before concluding in September that the mission could proceed as planned.
Clipper is about the size of a basketball court with its solar wings unfurled.
The spacecraft will swing past Mars and then Earth on its way to Jupiter for gravity assists. The nearly 13,000-pound (5,700-kilogram) probe should reach the solar system’s biggest planet in 2030.
Clipper will circle Jupiter every 21 days. One of those days will bring it close to Europa, among 95 known moons at Jupiter and close to our own moon in size.
Continue reading about NASA’s Europa Clipper journey toward the ocean moon of Jupiter
