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Prepping Europa Clipper's Propulsion Tanks

Aug. 5, 2021
Contamination control engineers in a clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, evaluate a propellant tank before it is installed in NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft.

Contamination control engineers in a clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, evaluate a propellant tank before it is installed in NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft. The tank is one of two that will be used to hold the spacecraft's propellant. It will be inserted into the cylinder seen at left in the background, one of two cylinders that make up the propulsion module.

With an internal global ocean under a thick layer of ice, Jupiter's moon Europa may have the potential to harbor existing life. Europa Clipper will swoop around Jupiter on an elliptical path, dipping close to the moon on each flyby to collect data. Understanding Europa's habitability will help scientists better understand how life developed on Earth and the potential for finding life beyond our planet. Europa Clipper is set to launch in 2024.

More information about Europa and Europa Clipper can be found here: europa.nasa.gov

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