Europa Clipper: Equipped for Discovery (Artist's Concept)
To conduct its detailed investigations of Jupiter's icy moon Europa, NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft carries a suite of nine science instruments and a gravity experiment that uses its telecommunications system. These components are depicted in this pair of artist's concepts showing each side of the spacecraft, and include:
- Europa Imaging System (EIS)
- Europa Thermal Emission Imaging System (E-THEMIS)
- Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Europa-UVS)
- Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE)
- Europa Clipper Magnetometer (ECM)
- Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding (PIMS)
- Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface (REASON)
- MAss Spectrometer for Planetary EXploration/Europa (MASPEX)
- Surface Dust Analyzer (SUDA)
- Gravity and Radio Science Experiment (G/RS)
Europa Clipper's three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon's icy shell and its interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission's detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.
Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with APL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. APL designed the main spacecraft body in collaboration with JPL and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.
NASA's Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, manages the launch service for the Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy.
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