Europa Clipper Post-Launch Update

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft successfully launched on 14 October 2024, on its interplanetary journey to Jupiter, where it will repeatedly encounter Europa during low-altitude (generally 25–100 km) flybys designed to enable exploration of the satellite and investigate its habitability. Europa Clipper’s 5.5 yr cruise includes gravity assists at Mars (1 March 2025) and Earth (1 December 2026). The spacecraft will enter orbit around Jupiter (11 April 2030) and will perform 49 science flybys of Europa over a 4.3-yr Jovian tour.

To explore Europa as an integrated system and achieve a complete picture of its habitability, the Europa Clipper mission has three main science objectives: Characterization of: (1) the ice shell and ocean including their heterogeneity, properties, and surface–ice–ocean exchange; (2) Europa’s composition including any non-ice materials on the surface and in the atmosphere, and any carbon-containing compounds; and (3) Europa’s geology including surface features and localities of high science interest. Additionally, several cross-cutting science topics will be investigated through searching for any current or recent activity in the form of thermal anomalies and plumes, performing geodetic and radiation measurements, and assessing high-resolution, co-located observations at select sites to provide reconnaissance for a potential future landed mission. These science objectives will be accomplished using a highly capable suite of remote-sensing and in-situ instruments. The remote sensing payload consists of the Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Europa-UVS), the Europa Imaging System (EIS) consisting of a wide and a narrow angle camera (WAC, NAC), the Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE), the Europa Thermal Imaging System (E-THEMIS), and the Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface (REASON). The in-situ instruments are the Europa Clipper Magnetometer (ECM), the Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding (PIMS), the SUrface Dust Analyzer (SUDA), and the MAss Spectrometer for Planetary Exploration (MASPEX). Gravity and radio science will be obtained using the spacecraft’s telecommunication system, and valuable scientific data will also be acquired by the spacecraft’s radiation monitoring system.

As of this writing, the spacecraft is performing extremely well on its way toward the Mars gravity assist. Deployments of the ECM boom and REASON antennas has been successful. All initial subsystem and instrument functional checkouts are complete and also have been a success. The Europa Clipper team is nearing completion of publication of a set of manuscripts in a topical collection of Space Science Reviews, and the science team continues to work towards optimizing science return through preparation of the mission’s Strategic Science Planning Guide. Joint discussions continue on potential opportunities for unique collaborative science with ESA’s JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) mission, which will overlap in its tour period at Jupiter.

This work is supported by NASA through the Europa Clipper Project.