Europa Clipper Pre-Launch Overview

ice incased Moon Europa could be habitable. NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft, the largest the agency has ever built for a planetary mission, will travel one point eight billion miles two point nine billion kilometers from the agency's Kennedy Space Center and Florida to Europa, an intriguing icy moon of Jupiter. The spacecraft's

launch period opens Thursday, October tenth. Data from previous NASA missions has provided scientists with strong evidence that an enormous salty ocean lies underneath the frozen surface of the Moon. Europa Clipper will orbit Jupiter and conduct forty nine close flybys of the Moon to gather data needed to determine whether there are places below its thick frozen crust that could support life. Europa is one of the most promising

places to look for currently habitable conditions beyond Earth. There's scientific evidence that the ingredients for life, water, the right chemistry, and energy may exist on Europa right now. This mission will gather the information scientists need to find out for sure. The Moon may hold an internal ocean with twice the water of Earth's oceans combined, and it may also host

organic compounds and energy sources under its surface. If the mission determines that Europa is habitable, it would mean there may be more habitable worlds in our Solar system and beyond than we have imagined. The spacecraft will fly through one of the most punishing radiation environments in our solar system, second only to the Sun's. Jupiter is surrounded by a

gigantic magnetic field twenty thousand times stronger than Earth's. As the field spins, it captures and accelerates charged particles, creating radiation that can damage spacecraft. Mission engineers designed a spacecraft fault to shield sensitive electronics from radiation, and they plot it orbits that will will limit the time Europa Clipper spends in most radiation heavy areas around Jupiter. Europa Clipper will orbit Jupiter studying Europa while flying by the Moon

dozens of times. The spacecraft will make looping orbits around Jupiter that bring it close to Europa for forty nine science dedicated flybys. On each orbit, the spacecraft will spend less than a day in Jupiter's dangerous radiation zone near Europa before zipping back out. Two to three weeks later, it will repeat the process making another flyby. Europa Clipper

features NASA's most sophisticated suite of science instruments yet. To determine whether Europa is habitable, Europa Clipper must assess the Moon's interior, composition and geology. The spacecraft carries nine science instruments and a gravity experiment that uses the telecommunication system in order to obtain the best science during each flyby. All the science instruments will operate simultaneously on every pass.

Scientists will then layer the data together to paint a full picture of the Moon with antennas and solar arrays fully deployed. Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed. For a planetary mission. The spacecraft extends one hundred feet thirty point five meters from one end to the other in about fifty eight feet seventeen point six

meters across. That's bigger than a basketball court, thanks in large part to the solar arrays, which need to be huge so they can collect enough sunlight while near Jupiter to power the instruments, electronics, and other subsystems. Jupiter is, on average some four hundred and eighty million miles about seven hundred and seventy million kilometers from Earth. Both planets are in motion, and a spacecraft can carry only a

limited amount of fuel. Mission planners are sending Europa Clipper past Mars and then Earth, using the planet's gravity as a slingshot to add speed to the spacecraft's track. After journeying about one point eight billion miles two point nine billion kilometers over five point five years, the spacecraft will fire its engines to enter orbit around Jupiter in twenty thirty institutions across the U dot S in Europe have

contributed to Europa Clipper. Currently, one thousand people work on the mission, including more than two hundred and twenty scientists from both the Udads and Europe. Since the mission was officially approved in twenty fifteen, more than four thousand people have contributed to Europa Clipper, including teams who work for

contractors and subcontractors. More than two point six million of US are riding along with the spacecraft, bringing greetings from one water world to another, as part of a mission campaign called Message in a Bottle. The spacecraft is carrying a poem by Eudades poet laureate adaly mone Co, signed by millions of people from nearly every country in the world. Their names have been stenciled onto a microchip attached to a tannel metal plate that seals the spacecraft's electronics fault.

The plate also features waveforms of people saying the word water in over one hundred spoken languages. Europa Clipper's three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the Moon's icy shell and its interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission's detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planets. To do the same