Europa Clipper

Europa Clipper (previously known as Europa Multiple Flyby Mission) is a <a href="/facts/Space_probe/AeWRBITP">space probe</a> developed by <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a> to study <a href="/facts/Europa_(moon)/2A9nleK3">Europa</a>, a <a href="/facts/Galilean_moon/aN6tLUFc">Galilean moon</a> of <a href="/facts/Jupiter/95m7XjMT">Jupiter</a>. It was launched on October 14, 2024. The spacecraft used a <a href="/facts/Gravity_assist/4sqIByot">gravity assist</a> from Mars on March 1, 2025, and then it will later use another gravity assist from Earth on December 3, 2026, before arriving at Europa in April 2030. The spacecraft will then perform a series of <a href="/facts/Flyby_(spaceflight)/BtJe76fP">flybys</a> of Europa while in orbit around Jupiter.
Europa Clipper is designed to follow up on evidence for a subsurface ocean underneath Europa's ice <a href="/facts/Crust_(geology)/FYG1kP4F">crust</a>, found using the <a href="/facts/Galileo_(spacecraft)/H57agAgz">Galileo</a> spacecraft which orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. Plans to send a spacecraft to Europa were initially conceived with projects such as <a href="/facts/Europa_Orbiter/BM0Qgbne">Europa Orbiter</a> and <a href="/facts/Jupiter_Icy_Moons_Orbiter/DvgbK1KX">Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter</a>, in which a spacecraft would be inserted into orbit around Europa. However, due to the adverse effects of <a href="/facts/Radiation/RwMocyeq">radiation</a> from the <a href="/facts/Magnetosphere_of_Jupiter/jEL7eKS5">magnetosphere of Jupiter</a> in Europa orbit, it was decided that it would be safer to insert a spacecraft into an <a href="/facts/Elliptic_orbit/SfuXuATN">elliptical orbit</a> around Jupiter and make 49 close flybys of the moon instead. The Europa Clipper spacecraft is larger than any other used for previous NASA planetary missions.
The spacecraft will analyze the presence of an <a href="/facts/Europa_(moon)/2A9nleK3">induced magnetic field around Europa</a>, and attempt to detect plumes of water <a href="/facts/Ejecta/5N1ng5Jh">ejecta</a> from a subsurface ocean; in addition to various other tests.
The mission's name is a reference to the lightweight and fast <a href="/facts/Clipper/2tHzxph3">clipper ships</a> of the 19th century that routinely plied trade routes, since the spacecraft will pass by Europa at a rapid cadence, as frequently as every two weeks. The mission patch, which features a depiction of a sail ship, references the moniker.
Europa Clipper complements the <a href="/facts/European_Space_Agency/L8YRNV0C">ESA</a>'s <a href="/facts/Jupiter_Icy_Moons_Explorer/XcRkV5uS">Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer</a>, launched in 2023, which will attempt to fly past Europa twice and <a href="/facts/Callisto_(moon)/et0eIutu">Callisto</a> multiple times before moving into orbit around <a href="/facts/Ganymede_(moon)/AmKsF10c">Ganymede</a>.

Europa Clipper open-in-new

Europa Clipper