LUME MISSION OBSERVATORY · 02
Europa
Clipper
NASA’s Europa Clipper is travelling to Jupiter to investigate Europa, an icy moon with an ocean beneath its surface. It will fly past the moon repeatedly to study whether it could offer conditions suitable for life.
Original LUME Gravity visualisation · Mission data: NASA Science and JPLCURRENT PHASEInterplanetary cruisePrimary sources linked below
Launched14 Oct 2024
Jupiter orbit insertionPlanned · Apr 2030
Europa flybys49
Closest passes~25 km
GRAVITY-ASSIST JOURNEY
The journey to Jupiter.
Mars and Earth reshape the spacecraft’s heliocentric path before Jupiter orbit insertion. The dates below are mission milestones published by NASA; future events remain planned.
Schematic geometry — not a navigational plotMars gravity assist
CompletedEarth gravity assist
PlannedJupiter orbit insertion
PlannedFirst Europa flyby
Planned
NASA/JPL-Caltech · PIA26544 · captured 5 Nov 2025A REAL SIGNAL FROM TRANSIT
Uranus seen during the journey.
On 5 November 2025, Europa Clipper used a stellar reference unit to image a field containing Uranus. These cameras help the spacecraft know its orientation.
Open the NASA Photojournal recordWHY FLYBYS
Close to Europa. Briefly.
Europa Clipper will orbit Jupiter rather than Europa. Long looping orbits allow repeated close passes while limiting the spacecraft’s exposure to Jupiter’s intense radiation environment.
EUROPA · A VISUAL INTERPRETATION
Europa’s icy surface.
Galileo observed fractures and ridges across Europa. This imagined close view gives them a sense of scale. What lies beneath the ice is the mission's question.
THE QUESTION
Habitability, examined layer by layer.
The mission is not designed to detect life. It will test whether Europa has the conditions and materials that could make an environment habitable.
NASA/JPL-Caltech · PIA17737 · enhanced-colour Galileo imageTHE ACTUAL RECORD · GALILEO, 1999
The cracks are real.
Galileo photographed this network of ridges and fractures. The enhanced colours help reveal its geologic history. Europa Clipper will return with instruments built to examine the ice, its chemistry and the possible ocean below.
See NASA's image recordIce shell
Determine its thickness, structure and relationship with the ocean below.
Ocean
Constrain depth, salinity and other properties through magnetic, gravity and radar measurements.
Composition
Map surface materials and investigate how they may be exchanged with the subsurface.
Geology
Study landforms, recent activity and the processes reshaping Europa’s surface.
NASA · MISSION OVERVIEW
Why send a spacecraft to Europa?
NASA's mission film introduces the ocean-world question, the spacecraft and the repeated flybys that will bring its instruments close to the ice.
Open NASA's video recordVideo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/KSC/APL · Europa Clipper: Exploring Jupiter's Ocean Moon
SCIENCE WORKING TOGETHER
Nine instruments. One coordinated pass.
NASA states that all nine science instruments will operate on every flyby, alongside a gravity investigation using the telecommunications system.
EIS · E-THEMIS
Visible and thermal imaging
REASON · ECM · PIMS
Ice, magnetic field and plasma
MISE · MASPEX · SUDA · Europa-UVS
Surface, gases, dust and ultraviolet signatures
OFFICIAL SOURCES
NASA Science · Europa ClipperNASA Science · Mission timelineJPL · Mission overviewGET TO KNOW THE MISSION
Curious about Europa Clipper?
What is NASA’s Europa Clipper mission?
A robotic spacecraft travelling to Jupiter to study Europa, one of its icy moons. It will investigate whether Europa has environments that could support life.
Why explore Europa?
Evidence points to a salty ocean beneath its ice. The mission will study that ocean, the ice shell and the surface to understand how they interact.
Will Europa Clipper land on the moon?
No. It will orbit Jupiter and make repeated close flybys of Europa, collecting measurements without spending all its time in the moon’s intense radiation environment.
Is it looking directly for life?
Its main goal is to assess habitability: whether suitable conditions could exist. Cameras, radar and other instruments will investigate the moon, not prove that life is there.
Read the official explanations: NASA mission overview ↗