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Mission Timeline

NASA's Europa Clipper launched Oct. 14, 2024, on a mission to conduct a detailed survey of Jupiter's icy moon Europa to determine whether there are places below the surface that could support life. The spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter in 2030, and then conduct nearly 50 flybys of Europa.

An illustration of Europa Clipper in front of Europa.

Pre-Launch Activities

  • 2013: Pre-Project Planning (Pre-Phase A)

    Prior to mission selection, mission planners develop candidate mission concepts. Examples included a Europa orbiter spacecraft and a Europa lander. Another concept called for a spacecraft to orbit Jupiter in resonance with Europa’s orbit, enabling science flybys of Europa and reduced exposure to Jupiter’s intense radiation. Given its strong science potential and relatively lower cost and risk, a proposal based on this concept was ultimately approved.

    An artist's concept of a blue spacecraft hovers above Europa.
    An early artist's concept of the Europa Clipper spacecraft.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech

  • May 2015: Multiple Flyby Concept & Science Instruments Selected (Phase A)

    NASA selects the multiple flyby concept for its mission to Europa. Also, nine science instruments are chosen to investigate whether the icy moon has conditions suitable for life. The instruments include cameras, spectrometers, particle detectors, an ice-penetrating radar, and a magnetometer.

    Three men in dress shirts and ties sit at a table with a large image of Europa behind them.
    NASA scientists John Grunsfeld, Jim Green, and Curt Niebur (left to right) speak at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D. C., on a May 2015 panel about instruments selected to investigate Jupiter’s moon Europa.
    NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

  • February 2017: Multiple-Flyby Mission Moves into Design Phase (Phase B)

    During this phase, a preliminary design for the mission's systems and subsystems is completed. Testing proceeds for some spacecraft components, including solar cells and science instrument detectors. Subsystem vendors are selected, as well as prototype hardware elements for the science instruments. Spacecraft subassemblies are built and tested as well.

    Artist�s rendering of NASA�s Europa Clipper spacecraft.
    An artist's concept of NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech

  • March 2017: Mission Officially Named 'Europa Clipper'

    The mission receives its formal name: Europa Clipper. The moniker harkens back to the clipper ships that sailed across the oceans of Earth in the 19th century. Clipper ships were renowned for their grace and swiftness.

    An illustration of Europa Clipper in front of Europa.
    This artist's concept shows Europa Clipper during a flyby of Europa.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech

  • August 2019: Spacecraft Fabrication Begins (Phase C)

    Europa Clipper moves into its final design phase, and the spacecraft’s construction and testing begins. Components are developed at partner institutions across the United States and in Europe.

    Contamination control engineers in a clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, evaluate a propellant tank before it is installed in NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft.
    NASA/GSFC Denny Henry

  • March 2022: Assembly and Testing Begins (Phase D)

    The assembly of Europa Clipper gets underway at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California. Engineering components and science instruments are beginning to stream in from across the country and Europe. As each component is installed, tests demonstrate that the instrument functions as expected, building up to tests of the entire spacecraft that show that the spacecraft can do everything needed of it during the mission. When fully assembled, the spacecraft will be larger than an SUV with solar arrays long enough to span a basketball court.

    Engineers and technicians inspect the main body of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft after it was built and delivered by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, to the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in early June.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman

  • Spring 2024: Spacecraft Ships to NASA's Kennedy Space Center

    Europa Clipper makes its journey from California to Kennedy Space Center in Florida to be prepared for launch.

    The back of a green transport aircraft is open like a giant duck's bill, and the shipping container hold Europa Clipper can be seen sitting inside. A ramp extends from the back of the plane. Workers are giving hand signals as they guide the shipping container off the plane.
    Technicians unload NASA's Europa Clipper from a transport aircraft at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 23, 2024.
    NASA/Isaac Watson

  • Summer 2024: Assembly & Testing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center

    After Europa Clipper arrives at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the mission team continues assembly and testing, including installation of the spacecraft’s high-gain antenna. Then the spacecraft is integrated with the rocket, including its fairing, or nose cone.

    Image of a high-gain antenna that will be attached to NASA's Europa Clipper, a spacecraft to study Jupiter's icy moon.
    Technicians prepare to install the nearly 10 feet (3 meters) wide dish-shaped high-gain antenna on NASA’s Europa Clipper at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 17, 2024.
    NASA/Kim Shiflett

  • Oct. 14, 2024: Launch

    Europa Clipper launches from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Oct. 14, 2024.

    Europa Clipper lifts off from the launch pad atop a white rocket with two smaller side boosters. A bright, white and orange pillar of fire shoots from the bottom of the rocket stack. White smoke billows around the launch pad. The fixed service structure is to the right of the rocket.
    Europa Clipper lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:06 p.m. EDT on Oct. 14, 2024.
    SpaceX

  • March 2025: Mars Flyby

    On March 1, 2025, Europa Clipper streaked about 550 miles (884 kilometers) above the surface of Mars for what's known as a gravity assist — a maneuver to bend the spacecraft’s trajectory and position it for a critical leg of its long voyage to the Jupiter system. 

    An image from a video about Europa Clipper making a gravity assist at Mars.
    This artist's concept shows NASA's Europa Clipper flying by Mars during its Mars gravity assist.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech

  • December 2026: Earth Flyby

    Europa Clipper comes home (briefly) for its second gravity assist, swinging about 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) from Earth. This flyby, along with the earlier Mars flyby, gives the spacecraft enough energy to reach Jupiter.

    Our blue marble home world as seen from a distant satellite.
    An image of Earth from the Deep Space Climate Observatory, or DSCOVR.
    NASA

  • April 2030: Jupiter Orbit Insertion

    Europa Clipper will use its engines as brakes to slow the spacecraft down to match Jupiter's orbit. This process will take about six hours — unusually long for a space probe. However, Europa Clipper’s engines are designed and tested to ensure they are up to the task. Europa Clipper will fly by Jupiter’s moon Ganymede as it does so.

    This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter.
    This artist's concept depicts NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft with solar arrays fully deployed in orbit around Jupiter.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech

  • October 2030: Spacecraft Shaping Orbit

    Europa Clipper will use multiple flybys of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, including Ganymede, the largest moon in our solar system, to reduce the spacecraft orbit to the desired resonance with Europa’s orbit.

    A half-globe view of Jupiter's moon, Ganymede. The moon is gray with a big crater on the right side of the image. The moon also has streaks of lighter and darker materials.
    This enhanced image of Ganymede was taken by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during the mission’s June 7, 2021, flyby of the icy moon on Juno’s 34th pass close to Jupiter.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kalleheikki Kannisto CC BY

  • Spring 2031: First Europa Flyby

    During the transition to the mission’s first science campaign, Europa Clipper makes its first flyby of its target: Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. Europa Clipper uses this flyby to help shape its orbit around Jupiter. It will gather the first close-up Europa science observations of the mission.

    This artist's concept depicts a silver Europa Clipper spacecraft approaching a gray Europa with Jupiter looming large behind the moon.
    This artist's concept depicts NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft approaching Europa.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech

  • May 2031: First Science Campaign Begins

    Repeated flybys of Europa’s anti-Jovian side begin. The anti-Jovian side of Europa is the one that faces away from Jupiter. Spacecraft instruments gather data on Europa's subsurface ocean, icy shell, surface, and thin atmosphere. Closest-approach altitudes will be approximately as low as 16 miles (25 kilometers) from the surface of Europa.

    A GIF showing Europa Clipper flying by Europa.
    This animation shows Europa Clipper flying by Europa with Jupiter in the background.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech

  • May 2033: Second Science Campaign Begins

    Europa Clipper begins its second science campaign, now concentrating flybys over the hemisphere facing toward Jupiter (it’s sub-Jovian side). After the mission’s first science campaign, Europa Clipper’s trajectory transitions so that flybys will continue over the sub-Jovian side of Europa. There the Europa Clipper spacecraft will continue to use its full suite of instruments to gather data about the icy moon.

    A close-up image of Europa's surface.
    NASA

  • September 2034: Possible End of Mission: Ganymede Impact

    The current end of mission plan calls for Europa Clipper to deorbit into Ganymede's surface after its mission is complete.

    A gray moon with several craters including a large one that looks like a belly button. The area around the large crater is lighter than the surrounding areas.
    This image of Ganymede was taken by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft during its June 7, 2021, flyby of Jupiter's largest moon.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
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