Tag: Jupiter Moons

Liftoff! NASA’s Europa Clipper Sails Toward Ocean Moon of Jupiter

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A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:06 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. After launch, the spacecraft plans to fly by Mars in February 2025, then back by Earth in December 2026, using the gravity of each planet to increase its momentum. With help of these “gravity assists,” Europa Clipper will achieve the velocity needed to reach Jupiter in April 2030. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett NASA’s Europa Clipper has embarked on its…

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Journey to a Water World: NASA’s Europa Clipper Is Ready to Launch

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5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Europa Clipper spacecraft aboard is seen at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the mission, Sunday, Oct. 13, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA Find details about the launch sequences for the orbiter, which is targeting an Oct. 14 liftoff on its mission to search for ingredients of life at Jupiter’s moon Europa. In less than 24 hours, NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft is slated to launch from the agency’s…

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Can Life Exist on an Icy Moon? NASA’s Europa Clipper Aims to Find Out

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6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The puzzling surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa looms large in this reprocessed color view made from images taken by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. The images were assembled into a realistic color view of the surface that approximates how Europa would appear to the human eye. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute With a spacecraft launching soon, the mission will try to answer the question of whether there are ingredients suitable for life in the ocean below Europa’s icy crust.…

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New Video Series Spotlights Engineers on NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission

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Learn about some of the engineering work being done by five members of NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which aims to launch Thursday, Oct. 10. NASA With NASA’s Europa Clipper just weeks away from launch, five short videos give a behind-the-scenes peek at some of the engineers dedicated to making the mission a success. What does it take to build a massive spacecraft that will seek to determine if a mysterious moon has the right ingredients for life? Find out in a new video series called “Behind the Spacecraft,” which offers…

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NASA’s Europa Clipper Unpacks in Florida

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Technicians inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida prepare to rotate the agency’s largest planetary mission spacecraft, Europa Clipper, to a vertical position on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, as part of prelaunch processing. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett Crews rotated to vertical then lifted NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft from its protective shipping container after it arrived at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 28. The spacecraft, which will collect data to help scientists determine if…

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NASA Unveils Design for Message Heading to Jupiter’s Moon Europa

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This side of a commemorative plate mounted on NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft features U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s handwritten “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa.” It will be affixed with a silicon microchip stenciled with names submitted by the public. NASA/JPL-Caltech When it launches in October, the agency’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will carry a richly layered dispatch that includes more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public. Following in NASA’s storied tradition of sending inspirational messages into space, the agency has special plans for Europa Clipper, which…

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For Your Processing Pleasure: The Sharpest Pictures of Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io in a Generation

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1 min read For Your Processing Pleasure: The Sharpest Pictures of Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io in a Generation Jupiter’s moon Io, its night side illuminated by reflected sunlight from Jupiter, or “Jupitershine.” Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing by Emma Wälimäki © CC BY NASA’s Juno spacecraft just made the closest flybys of Jupiter’s moon Io that any spacecraft has carried out in more than 20 years. An instrument on this spacecraft called “JunoCam” returned spectacular, high-resolution images—and raw data are now available for you to process, enhance, and investigate. On Dec. 30th, 2023, Juno…

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NASA’s Juno to Get Close Look at Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io on Dec. 30

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This image revealing the north polar region of the Jovian moon Io was taken on October 15 by NASA’s Juno. Three of the mountain peaks visible in the upper part of image, near the day-night dividing line, were observed here for the first time by the spacecraft’s JunoCam. Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS, Image processing by Ted Stryk The orbiter has performed 56 flybys of Jupiter and documented close encounters with three of the gas giant’s four largest moons. NASA’s Juno spacecraft will on Saturday, Dec. 30, make the closest flyby of…

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How NASA Is Protecting Europa Clipper From Space Radiation

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5 min read How NASA Is Protecting Europa Clipper From Space Radiation Engineers and technicians are seen closing the vault of NASA’s Europa Clipper in the main clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at JPL on Oct. 7. The vault will protect the electronics of the spacecraft as it orbits Jupiter. NASA/JPL-Caltech To explore the mysterious ice-encrusted moon Europa, the mission will need to endure bombardment by radiation and high-energy particles surrounding Jupiter. When NASA’s Europa Clipper begins orbiting Jupiter to investigate whether its ice-encased moon, Europa, has conditions…

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