Global InformationEuropa Clipper information
 Artist's rendering of the Europa Clipper spacecraft | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Names | Europa Multiple Flyby Mission | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission type | Europa reconnaissance | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Operator | NASA | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | europa | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Mission duration | Cruise: 5.5 years[1][2] Science phase: 4 years | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Spacecraft properties | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Manufacturer | Jet Propulsion Laboratory | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Launch mass | 6,065 kg (13,371 lb),[3][4][5] including 2,750 kg (6,060 lb) propellant[6] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Dry mass | 3,241 kg (7,145 lb)[7] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Payload mass | 352 kg (776 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Dimensions | Height: 6 m (20 ft) Solar panel span: 22 m (72 ft)[4] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Power | 600 watts from solar panels[8] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Start of mission | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Launch date | October 10, 2024 (planned)[9] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Rocket | Falcon Heavy[10] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Launch site | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Contractor | SpaceX | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Jupiter orbiter | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Orbital insertion | April 11, 2030 (planned) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Orbits | 45[4][11] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
 Europa Clipper mission patch Solar System Exploration program | |||||||||||||||||||||
Europa Clipper (previously known as Europa Multiple Flyby Mission) is a space probe in development by NASA. Planned for launch in October 2024, the spacecraft is being developed to study the Galilean moon Europa through a series of flybys while in orbit around Jupiter.[13][14] It is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission.[15]
This mission is a scheduled flight of the Planetary Science Division, designated a Large Strategic Science Mission, and funded under the Planetary Missions Program Office's Solar System Exploration program as its second flight.[16][17] It is also supported by the new Ocean Worlds Exploration Program.[18] Europa Clipper will perform follow-up studies to those made by the Galileo spacecraft during its eight years (1995 – 2003) in Jupiter orbit, which indicated the existence of a subsurface ocean underneath Europa's ice crust. Plans to send a spacecraft to Europa were initially conceived with projects such as Europa Orbiter and Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, in which a spacecraft would be injected into orbit around Europa. However, due to the adverse effects of radiation from Jupiter's magnetosphere in Europa orbit, it was decided that it would be safer to inject a spacecraft into an elliptical orbit around Jupiter and make 44 close flybys of the moon instead. The mission began as a joint investigation between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), and will be built with a scientific payload of nine instruments contributed by JPL, APL, Southwest Research Institute, University of Texas at Austin, Arizona State University and University of Colorado Boulder. The upcoming mission complements ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer launch in 2023, which will fly-by Europa twice and Callisto multiple times before moving into orbit around Ganymede.
The mission is scheduled to launch in October 2024 aboard a Falcon Heavy,[10] during a 21-day launch window.[9] The spacecraft will use gravity assists from Mars in February 2025 and Earth in December 2026, before arriving at Europa in April 2030.[9]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Leonewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Phillips 2014was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Foust, Jeff (January 29, 2021). "NASA seeks input on Europa Clipper launch options". SpaceNews. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
- ^ a b c Europa Clipper Mission. Archived March 18, 2021, at the Wayback Machine Europa Clipper home page at NASA. Accessed on October 2, 2019
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Goldstein, Barry; Kastner, Jason (March 2018). "Weigh Your Options Carefully" (PDF). The Sextant – Europa Clipper Newsletter. Vol. 2, no. 1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 22, 2020. Retrieved September 20, 2018. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ https://www.jhuapl.edu/news/news-releases/220607-johns-hopkins-apl-delivers-nasa-europa-clipper-propulsion-module
- ^ Overview | Mission - NASA's Europa Clipper Europa Clipper home page at NASA. Accessed on March 13, 2024 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Goldstein, Barry; Pappalardo, Robert (February 19, 2015). "Europa Clipper Update" (PDF). Outer Planets Assessment Group. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
- ^ a b c Foust, Jeff (February 10, 2021). "NASA to use commercial launch vehicle for Europa Clipper". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
- ^ a b Potter, Sean (July 23, 2021). "NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for the Europa Clipper Mission" (Press release). NASA. Archived from the original on July 24, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "All Systems Go for NASA's Mission to Jupiter Moon Europa" (Press release). NASA. June 17, 2015. Archived from the original on March 11, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2019. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Thompson, Jay R. (2022). "Instruments". Europa Clipper. NASA. Archived from the original on May 24, 2021. Retrieved October 10, 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Clark, Stuart (March 5, 2023). "'It's like finding needles in a haystack': the mission to discover if Jupiter's moons support life". The Guardian. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- ^ King, Lucinda; Conversation, The. "If life exists on Jupiter's moon Europa, scientists might soon be able to detect it". phys.org. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
- ^ "How our vision of Europa's habitability is changing". April 19, 2024. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
- ^ Wolfe, Alexis; McDonald, Lisa (July 21, 2017). "Balance of NASA Planetary Science Missions Explored at Hearing". American Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on July 31, 2020. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
- ^ "Solar System Exploration Missions List". Planetary Missions Program Office (PMPO). NASA. Archived from the original on March 27, 2018. Retrieved March 27, 2018. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
OWEPwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).
