Europa-UVS Commissioning and In-Flight Calibration Results and Plans Ahead with Europa Clipper

The Europa Clipper mission launched on 14 October 2024, and includes the Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Europa-UVS) instrument.  Europa-UVS’s science goals are focused on Europa habitability goals, specifically: 1) Search for and characterize the vapor composition of any plumes; and 2) Enable mapping of atmospheric vertical structure and composition.  Initial low-voltage turn on and launch latch deployments for the telescope aperture doors occurred successfully in mid-December 2024, with nominal performance.  In January 2025 the one-time deployable microchannel plate (MCP) detector door was successfully opened in preparation for a full set of high-voltage operations and a “first-light” spectral image acquistion to verify the full in-flight operability.  However before the sequence of high-voltage test commands could be completed, the fires near the Jet Propulsion Lab and general Los Angeles area interrupted the commanding efforts while the JPL campus was evacuated.  Subsequent completion of the high-voltage testing awaited the completion of Clipper’s Mars flyby and a return to suitable round-trip light travel time for communications, and is instead occurring the week of this abstract submission in May 2025.  We will report the status of this commissioning and describe the performance of the instrument relative to pre-launch expectations.  Plans ahead for subsequent calibrations, cruise activities, and preparation for Jupiter tour phase will also be reported.  We’ll discuss how Europa-UVS’s extreme-UV to far-UV (55-206 nm) observational techniques to investigate aurora and airglow imaging, stellar and solar occultation, Jupiter transit, and surface reflectance related to the overall habitability goals for the Europa Clipper mission.  Coordination with its sister instrument on the JUICE mission, JUICE-UVS, offers additional opportunities for advancing the science goals for each mission.