Skip Navigation
menu close modal

All Resources

Europa Clipper Propulsion Module

in the clean room, people work on the spacecraft's electronics
Source: Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman
Published: August 3, 2021

In a cleanroom at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, Europa Clipper's propulsion module harness is transferred from the bake-out fixture to the propulsion module structure during installation.

Pictured top to bottom: Carlisa Drew, Spencer Brock, and John Stinchcomb.

ENLARGE

Related

An engineer configures the sensor head for Europa Clipper’s dust analyzer for magnetics testing.  
More
The SUDA sensor head rests upon a table in a clean room. The sensor head is gold in color, shaped slightly like a drum on its side. It is attached a device that lifts the sensor head from the table, and is seen slightly to the ride of center in the image. An engineer wearing white full body coveralls, light blue gloves, glasses, and a mask stands behind the sensor head and the table it is on, looking down at the sensor head. Two additional engineers stand in the distance on either side of the sensor head, both wearing full white body coveralls, masks, and light blue gloves.
Configuring Europa Clipper's Dust Analyzer for Magnetics Testing
This animation segment shows NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft leaving Earth. 
More
An animation showing the rocket carrying the Europa Clipper spacecraft leaving Earth.
Mission Animation: Launch
This image is a very high resolution view of the Conamara Chaos region on Europa.
More
Close-up image in black and white.
Icy Cliffs at High Resolution
This colorized image of Europa is a product of clear-filter grayscale data from one orbit of NASA's Galileo spacecraft.
More
Reddish bands on Europa
Reddish Bands on Europa
Dr. Kurt Retherford, Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Europa-UVS) instrument Principal Investigator, took the top off the instrument in the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)’s clean room faciliti...
More
Dr. Kurt Retherford, Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Europa-UVS) instrument Principal Investigator, took the top off the instrument in the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)’s clean room facilities to reveal Europa-UVS optics, detector and detector electronics installed and aligned, with numerous cables and mechanisms also in place.
Europa-UVS Assembly
Europa Clipper’s power control and distribution assembly is lowered into the spacecraft’s electronics vault. 
More
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
Engineers remove a protective cover from Europa Clipper’s narrow-angle camera.
More
In the center of the image, four technicians are seen lifting off a square, white protective cover from a white container that holds Europa Clipper’s narrow-angle camera. The engineers are wearing white full-body coveralls, including blue face masks. Two are facing away from the camera and two are facing the camera. The two closest to the camera have APL written on the back of the coveralls, which stands for “Applied Physics Lab”. Another worker in a white bunny suit and dark blue hood stands off to the right side of the image. A wall clock is to the right of his head. To the far left of the image, two people in bunny suits are recording the moment: One person is holding a video camera, and the other is holding a smartphone. A toolbox is against a wall on the left side of the room.
Europa Clipper's Narrow-Angle Camera Delivered to JPL
Explore icy moons, like Jupiter’s moon Europa, with Olympic figure skaters Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker! Trina Ray, an astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a member of the Europ...
More
Two figure skaters stand on an ice rink, and ask a JPL astronomer questions about Jupiter's icy moon Europa.
Olympic Figure Skaters Explore the Icy Moon Europa with NASA
An identical copy of Europa Clipper's propulsion module and electronics vault is lowered by crane in a static test tower.
More
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Europa Clipper's Developmental Test Model
This image of Jupiter's satellite Europa was obtained from a range of 7,364 miles (11,851 kilometers) by the Galileo spacecraft during its fourth orbit around Jupiter and its first close pass of Eu...
More
ridges on an icy surface
Prominent Doublet Ridges on Europa
Europa Clipper’s mass spectrometer is examined following delivery to JPL in December 2022.
More
Europa Clipper’s mass spectrometer takes up the left side 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. Two engineers are visible on the right side of this image as they look at a laptop while performing tests on the instrument.
Europa Clipper's Mass Spectrometer Delivered to JPL
This high resolution image shows the ice-rich crust of Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter.
More
black and white view of rough terrain on an icy surface
Europa Ice Rafts
The imaging spectrometer's scanning mirror and data procesing unit are loaded onto a shipping truck. 
More
Members of Europa Clipper’s imaging spectrometer instrument, called MISE, team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory place a container loading the instrument’s scanning mirror and data processing unit on a shipping truck. The truck transported the instrument parts to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, in November 2021.
Imaging Spectrometer Component Shipping
Agenor Linea is unique in that it is similar in width and length to dark bands seen in the northern hemisphere, but it is bright in color rather than dark.
More
Rugged terrain on Europa
Agenor Linea on Europa
This composite view taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft shows the rim and interior of the impact crater, Mannann'an, on Jupiter's moon, Europa.
More
color view of icy terrain
Mannann'an Crater
Marc Miller, a mechanical assembly technician at the University of Colorado Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), gauges the depth of ceramic pins installed in the SUrface Du...
More
Marc Miller, a mechanical assembly technician at the University of Colorado Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), gauges the depth of ceramic pins installed in the SUrface Dust Analyzer (SUDA) instrument.
SUDA Assembly
How did the team working on NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft test whether the spacecraft will work properly in outer space?
More
Video showing Europa Clipper undergoing testing in a special chamber to simulate conditions in space.
Spacecraft Makers: Simulating Space to Test Europa Clipper
This artist's rendering shows NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft, which is aiming for launch readiness by 2024.
More
artist's rendering of the Europa Clipper spacecraft with Europa and Jupiter in the background
2021 Europa Clipper Spacecraft (Artist's Concept)
A plasma instrument sensor assembly is loaded into a thermal vacuum chamber.
More
A plasma instrument sensor assembly is loaded into a thermal vacuum chamber.
Plasma Instrument Thermal Testing
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón is writing an original poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission.
More
Limón is seen meeting with Laurie Leshin, Director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Clockwise from left to right: Ada Limón, U.S. Poet Laureate, Limón’s husband Lucas Marquardt, and Laurie Leshin, Director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The three of them are seen seated at a white conference table. Europa Clipper’s trajectory as it orbits Jupiter is inlaid into the table. Limón is visible on the left, wearing a dark blue suit. Marquardt is visible in the back, watching Limón as she speaks. Leshin is sitting on the right, wearing a floral print. Hanging on the wall to Limón’s left is a quilt.
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón Meets NASA JPL Director Laurie Leshin
This is a high resolution picture of Jupiter's moon Europa. The area shown is about 5.9 by 9.9 miles (9.6 by 16 kilometers) and the smallest visible feature is about the size of a football field.
More
black and white view of rough terrain on an icy surface
Ridges on Europa
NASA’s Europa Clipper, with all of its instruments installed, is visible in the clean room of High Bay 1. 
More
NASA’s Europa Clipper, with all of its instruments installed, is visible in the clean room of High Bay 1 at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Jan. 19.
Europa Clipper Electromagnetic Testing
Engineers and technicians lift the tall core of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft during a maneuver to position it in the High Bay 1 clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at the agency’s Je...
More
In the center of the image, the main body of the Europa Clipper spacecraft hangs from a yellow crane in a large, multistoried cleanroom with white walls and a white ceiling. Six engineers in full-body coveralls and masks stand around the base of the main body as it hangs from the crane, with some working on the main body. In the distance, a viewing gallery is visible with four people watching the activities taking place.
The Lift: NASA's Europa Clipper Moves into Position
Engineers and technicians move the vault plate into position for installation on NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft on May 3, 2024. 
More
Two workers in white protective clothing hold the triangular-shaped silver-colored vault plate near the Europa Clipper spacecraft.
Europa Clipper Vault Plate Positioned
Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida prepare to rotate Europa Clipper to a vertical position on May 28, 2024, as part of prelaunch processing. 
More
Workers in blue overalls and white head covers watch as equipment is used to rotate Europa Clipper.
Europa Clipper Spacecraft Rotate to Vertical, Lift and Mate to Work Stand