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Building a Nadir Deck for Europa Clipper

Aug. 5, 2021
Engineers in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California build the nadir deck for NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft.

Engineers in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California build the nadir deck for NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft. The deck will stabilize the spacecraft's sensors and help the mission team ensure its instruments are oriented correctly.

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. 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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