Europa Clipper

Europa Clipper launched Oct. 14, 2024, on a journey to explore Europa, Jupiter's ocean world.

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Mission overview

Mission to Jupiter's Icy Moon

why europa

Europa Up Close

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Europa Clipper's Vault Plate

A white rocket with Europa Clipper on top in its protective fairing lifts off the launch bad with a trail of fire and white, billowy smoke below.

Europa Clipper is the first mission designed to conduct a detailed study of Jupiter's moon Europa. There’s scientific evidence that the ingredients for life may exist on Europa right now. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion km) to reach Jupiter in April 2030. It will orbit Jupiter, and conduct 49 close flybys of Europa.

Type

Orbiter/Flyby

LaunchED

Oct. 14, 2024

Target

Europa: Arrives 2030

Objective

Determine if Europa has conditions suitable to support life

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Liftoff!

Europa Clipper Sails Toward Europa

NASA’s Europa Clipper has embarked on its long voyage to Jupiter, where it will investigate Europa, a moon with an enormous subsurface ocean that may have conditions to support life. The spacecraft launched Oct. 14, 2024, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:06 p.m. EDT on Oct. 14, 2024.

What Will Europa Clipper Do?

Europa Clipper will try to determine if Jupiter's icy moon Europa currently has habitable conditions.

Europa Clipper will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion km) to reach Jupiter in April 2030. The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter, and conduct 49 close flybys of Europa. On each orbit, the spacecraft will spend less than a day in the dangerous radiation zone near Europa before zipping back out. Two to three weeks later, it will repeat the process. The spacecraft carries nine science instruments, and a gravity experiment that uses the telecommunications system. All science instruments will operate simultaneously on every pass.

Artist’s rendering of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft.

An artist's concept of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Meet the Europa Clipper Spacecraft

Europa Clipper is a robotic solar-powered spacecraft built to conduct the first detailed investigations of Jupiter's icy moon Europa.

With its solar arrays deployed, Europa Clipper spans more than 100 feet (about 30 meters) – about the length of a basketball court. The main body of the spacecraft consists of its avionics vault, radiofrequency module, and propulsion module.

Europa Clipper sits on a silver work stand. The spacecraft's high gain antenna is in the front and center of the image. The folded solar panels are attached to each side of the spacecraft. At least four workers in blue jumpsuits and white head covers are to the sides of the spacecraft.

On Sept. 11, 2024, technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center work to complete operations before propellant loading for the launch of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft. Europa Clipper’s launch period opens on October 10, 2024.

NASA/Kim Shiflett

Why Go to Europa?

The search for life beyond Earth is one of NASA’s primary objectives.

If humans are to truly understand our place in the universe, we must learn whether our planet is the only place where life exists. So the search is on! There is strong evidence Jupiter's moon Europa has a saltwater ocean that may be one of the best places to look for environments where life could exist beyond Earth.

The pale gray of Europa is seen against the blackness of space.

This view of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa was captured by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during the mission’s close flyby on Sept. 29, 2022.

NASA