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Europa Clipper Propulsion Module

Europa Clipper Propulsion Module arrival at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Source: Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman
Published: July 12, 2021

Europa Clipper's propulsion module is offloaded from its transportation trailer following its arrival at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory on June 23, 2021.

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Europa Clipper’s power control and distribution assembly is lowered into the spacecraft’s electronics vault. 
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In a sterile white room, five people wearing white full-body coveralls, gloves, and masks monitor a metal box about the size of a microwave oven as a crane lowers the box in to a larger hollow metal box about six feet wide.
Power Control and Distribution Assembly Integration
A close-up view of the poem on the Europa Clipper vault plate’s inward-facing side.
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This is a close-up view of the poem on the Europa Clipper vault plate’s inward-facing side. It shows a handwritten poem in elegant script, and an engraved portrait of man to the left of the poem.
Europa Clipper Vault Plate - Poem Close-Up
Engineers stand next to Europa Clipper's plasma detection instrument in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, following its delivery in June 2022. 
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A group of engineers in full white coveralls with masks stand in a clean room. Several engineers are giving a thumbs up hand gesture. They are standing around two faraday cups, part of the spacecraft's plasma detection instrument, following functional tests performed after the instrument was delivered to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern, California.
Plasma Detection Instrument Delivered to JPL
Europa Clipper's propulsion module harness is transferred from the bake-out fixture to the propulsion module structure during installation.
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in the clean room, people work on the spacecraft's electronics
Europa Clipper Propulsion Module
Dark, irregular features on Jupiter's moon Europa.
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Chaotic, swirling terrain on Europa.
Thera and Thrace Macula on Europa
This view of Jupiter's icy moon Europa shows a region shaped like a mitten that has a texture similar to the matrix of chaotic terrain, which is seen in medium and high resolution images of numerou...
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Mitten Shaped Region of Chaotic Terrain on Europa
A 3D model of the Europa Clipper Magnetometer (ECM), a plasma and magnetic field instrument on Europa Clipper. 
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3D model of ECM instrument
ECM
The telescope housing for Europa Clipper’s E-THEMIS instrument.
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The telescope housing for Europa Clipper’s E-THEMIS instrument.
E-THEMIS Telescope Housing
This image of Europa's surface was obtained by the Solid State Imaging (CCD) system on board NASA's Galileo spacecraft during its fourth orbit of Jupiter, Linear features with bright central stripe...
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Near-Terminator Image of Europa
Europa's surface as seen by the Galileo spacecraft during its 17th orbit around Jupiter.
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criss-crossing ridges and grooves
Europa's Rhadamanthys Linea
This image of Europa, an icy satellite of Jupiter, was obtained from a range of 39,028 miles (62,089 kilometers) by the Galileo spacecraft during its fourth orbit around Jupiter and its first close...
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black and white view of ridges and other landforms on the icy surface
Ridges and Plateaus
Europa Clipper’s mass spectrometer is examined following delivery to JPL in December 2022.
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Europa Clipper’s mass spectrometer takes up the middle of this image. The instrument consists of a long cylinder, several feet tall and a couple of inches in diameter. It takes the shape of an automobile spark plug, with a series of ridges visible at the top. Copper plating and wires extend from the instrument in multiple areas. The instrument is installed on a supportive structure. Engineers are visible in the background working.
Europa Clipper's Mass Spectrometer Delivered to JPL
An engineer makes an electrical connection to the sensor head for Europa Clipper’s dust analyzer.
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An engineer in white full-body coveralls, a mask, and light blue gloves is shown attaching a wire to the SUDA sensor head. Only the top of the sensor head is visible, and is seen on the lower right portion of the image. The sensor head is gold in color. In the distance, engineers work on other components in the clean room.
Assembling the Sensor Head for Europa Clipper's Dust Analyzer
These cracks and ridges in the south polar region of Jupiter's moon Europa have been rotated into sigmoidal or "S" shapes by the motion of Astypalaea Linea, a strike-slip fault in the moon's icy su...
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black and whire view of curving ridges on an icy surface
Cracks and Ridges Distorted by Europan Fault Motion
The Europa Clipper Solar Array Mechanical Simulator is shown installed on the spacecraft’s propulsion module.
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Image showing Europa Clipper Solar Array Mechanical Simulator installed on the spacecraft’s propulsion module.
Solar Array Mechanical Simulator
Depicted in this artist's concept against an illustration of a basketball court, Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever built for a planetary mission.
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A dark gray model of Europa Clipper hovers above a yellowish orange illustration of a basketball court.
Europa Clipper: NASA's Largest Planetary Spacecraft (Artist's Concept)
Adjusting laboratory equipment used to calibrate Europa Clipper’s ultraviolet spectrograph. 
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Adjusting laboratory equipment used to calibrate Europa Clipper’s ultraviolet spectrograph.
Ultraviolet Spectrograph Shipment Preparations
A technician prepares to attach the vault plate to NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft on May 3, 2024. 
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A technician in white protective clothing holds the triangular-shaped, silver-colored vault plate over a black box sitting on a work table with lots of tools around it. Another worker in protective clothing holds a video camera to record the moment.
Europa Clipper Vault Plate Lifted
The Europa Clipper radio frequency (RF) panel is mechanically installed near the top of the propulsion module cylinders. 
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Image showing the radio frequency module installed on the top of the spacecraft's propulsion module.
Radio Frequency Module Integration
Mihaela Ballarotto samples Europa Clipper's propulsion module for planetary protection cleanliness prior to harness installation. 
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sampling of the propulsion module in the clean room
Europa Clipper Propulsion Module
During its twelfth orbit around Jupiter, on Dec. 16, 1997, NASA's Galileo spacecraft made its closest pass of Jupiter's icy moon Europa, soaring 124 miles (200 kilometers) kilometers above the icy ...
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black and white view of ridges and rough terrain on an icy surface
Highest Resolution Image of Europa
Reanalysis of old data data suggests that the Galileo spacecraft, on its closest flyby of Europa, flew through a plume.
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Re-analyzing Old Data Reveals New Evidence at Europa
This unprocessed image shows the successful “first light” for Europa Clipper’s MISE instrument.
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MISE First Light
This high resolution image of the icy plains on Europa shows multiple sets of crosscutting ridges.
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Crisscrossed ridges as seen from above.
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The Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) on the Galileo spacecraft imaged most of Europa in 1996.
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Color enhanced view of Europa.
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