En RouteNASA JPL / APL
Europa Clipper Mission
Investigating the habitability of a vast liquid ocean hiding beneath Europa's icy shell.
Spacecraft Span (Arrays)30.5 meters (100 feet)
Jupiter Arrival DateApril 2030 (after Mars/Earth gravity assists)
Estimated Ocean Depth60 to 150 km (2x Earth's water volume)
Radiation ShieldingTitanium Vault (9.2 mm thick walls)
Investigating Subsurface Ocean Habitability
Europa Clipper is the largest planetary spacecraft NASA has ever built for a planetary mission. Spanning more than 30 meters with its solar arrays unfurled, Clipper will execute nearly 50 close flybys of Europa to map its ice crust thickness, sample atmospheric plumes, and analyze the saline ocean beneath.
Primary Scientific Investigations
Determine the thickness of Europa's ice shell and whether subsurface water pockets exist within the ice layer.
Investigate the composition and salinity of the global liquid ocean and its chemical interactions with the rocky seafloor.
Characterize the surface geology, chaos terrain, tectonic ridges, and active cryovolcanic venting regions.
Evaluate the ocean's potential to host living organisms (energy sources, oxidants, hydrothermal vents, bio-essential elements).
Ice-Penetrating & Chemical Payloads
Key Scientific Instruments
REASON (Radar for Europa Assessment)
Dual-frequency ice-penetrating radar probing up to 30 km deep
Manufacturer: UT Austin / JPL
MASPEX (Mass Spectrometer)
High-resolution atmospheric and gas plume chemical fingerprinting
Manufacturer: SwRI
MISE (Imaging Spectrometer)
Near-infrared mapping of salts, ices, and organic surface compounds
Manufacturer: JPL
Europa-UVS
Ultraviolet spectrograph to detect and map water vapor plumes
Manufacturer: SwRI
Mission Parameters
Target Moon:Jupiter's Moon Europa (Global Subsurface Ocean)
Orbital Trajectory:Jovian Orbit with 49 Low-Altitude Flybys (25 km closest approach)
Program Investment:$5.2 Billion