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Europa Clipper Mission Animations

Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Published: April 9, 2024

These animation sequences show NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft leaving Earth, deploying in space, and journeying to the Jupiter system where it will perform multiple flybys of Europa.

Europa Clipper will conduct a detailed survey to determine whether the icy moon could harbor conditions suitable for life. The spacecraft will shift its flight path for each flyby to soar over a different location so that it eventually scans nearly the entire moon.

Europa Clipper is expected to launch in October 2024 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

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Engineers remove a protective cover from Europa Clipper’s narrow-angle camera.
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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
The outward-facing side of Europa Clipper's vault plate shows waveforms symbolizing the word 'water' in multiple languages.
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An image of the Europa Clipper vault plate, highlighted from the upper left corner casting shadows that emphasize engraved waveforms emanating from a central point symbolizing the word 'water' in multiple languages. The waveforms present as audio frequency waves. The vault plate is metal silver and the engravings are black, set against a black background.
Europa Clipper Vault Plate - Water Words
Jupiter's moon Europa may have an ocean more than twice the size of Earth's oceans combined. Why do scientists think so? Find out in 60 seconds.
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Animated cartoon describing in simple terms why we think Europa has a global ocean under an icy crust.
Space Shorts: Could Jupiter's Moon Europa Have an Ocean?
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft took this image of Europa hanging above Jupiter's cloud tops.
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Black and white image of Europa in space.
New Horizons Spies Europa
A newly discovered impact crater can be seen just right of the center of this image of Jupiter's moon Europa returned by NASA's Galileo spacecraft camera. The crater is about 18.5 miles (30 kilomet...
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Europa's Active Surface
Engineers prepare Europa Clipper's thermal imager for a series of tests in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory following the instrument's delivery.
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Multiple engineers in white coveralls preparing the thermal imager instrument, located on a table in a clean room, for functional testing. One engineer has their hands on the instrument.
Thermal Imager Delivered to JPL
Scientists think there is an ocean within Jupiter's moon Europa. NASA-JPL astrobiologist Kevin Hand explains why scientists are so excited about the potential of this ice-covered world to answer on...
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A tour of Europa and its possibilities for life.
Europa: Ocean World
A collector assembly that will fly aboard Europa Clipper in one the four PIMS Faraday cups, which will help scientists study the charged particle (plasma) environment around Europa.
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A collector assembly that will fly aboard Europa Clipper in one the four PIMS Faraday cups, which will help scientists study the charged particle (plasma) environment around Europa.
PIMS Collector Assembly
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) Staff Engineer Yvette Tyler performs integration and testing on the electronics box for Europa Clipper’s mass spectrometer.
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Image showing Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) Staff Engineer Yvette Tyler performs integration and testing on the electronics box for Europa Clipper’s mass spectrometer. The mass spectrometer will analyze gases in Europa’s faint atmosphere and possible plumes. It will study the chemistry of the moon’s suspected subsurface ocean, how ocean and surface exchange material, and how radiation alters compounds on the moon’s surface.
Mass Spectrometer Electronics Box
Engineers integrate the avionics vault mass simulator for the Europa Clipper avionics module to the top of the propulsion module.
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Engineers integrate the avionics vault mass simulator for the Europa Clipper avionics module to the top of the propulsion module.
Avionics Mass Simulator
Europa's surface as seen by the Galileo spacecraft during its 17th orbit around Jupiter.
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Europa's Rhadamanthys Linea
Engineers test components for Europa Clipper’s radar instrument.
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Engineers test components for Europa Clipper’s radar instrument.
Radar Test Time-Lapse
NASA’s Europa Clipper is the first mission dedicated to studying Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, one of the most promising places in our solar system to find an environment suitable for life outside of ...
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Video explaining NASA’s Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter's moon, Europa.
Europa Clipper: Exploring Jupiter's Ocean Moon (Mission Overview)
This is an engineering model of Europa Clipper’s wide-angle camera, shown at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
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This is an engineering model of Europa Clipper’s wide-angle camera, shown at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
Europa Clipper's Europa Imaging System in the Works
Europa Clipper’s surface dust analyzer instrument was delivered to JPL in September 2022.
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Two engineers in full white body coveralls are seen lowering Europa Clipper’s surface dust analyzer onto a silver workbench in a cleanroom. Another engineer standing to the left, with a hand resting on the silver workbench. A fourth engineer is seen observing in the distance. The instrument is gold colored and about the size of a drum, resting on its side. The instrument is resting upon a silver workbench in the cleanroom.
Europa Clipper's Dust Analyzer Delivered to JPL
This image of Jupiter's icy satellite Europa shows surface features such as domes and ridges, as well as a region of disrupted terrain including crustal plates which are thought to have broken apar...
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color view of complex terrain on an icy surface
Europa "Ice Rafts" in Local and Color Context
These images show a comparison of the surfaces of the three icy Galilean satellites, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
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three black and white views of the rugged, icy surfaces of three moons
Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto: Surface Comparison at High Spatial Resolution
Engineers and technicians in a clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, integrate the tanks that will contain helium pressurant onto the propulsion module of NASA’s ...
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Engineers and technicians in a clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, integrate the tanks that will contain helium onto the propulsion module of NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft.
Europa Clipper Propulsion Module: Integration Underway
The animation illustrates the magnetic connection between Europa’s induced magnetic field and the magnetic field lines of Jupiter’s own powerful magnetic field.
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animation showing the connection between magnetic fields on Europa and Jupiter
Combined Magnetic Field of Jupiter and Europa's Induction Response
With its solar arrays deployed, Europa Clipper spans more than 100 feet (about 30.5 meters) – about the length of a basketball court. 
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An illustration shows the scale of the Europa Clipper spacecraft by superimposing it on a standard basketball court. The spacecraft appears to hover over the surface of the court while spectators look on. The spacecraft, with its metallic main body at the center and its two solar array wings stretched out on either side, is about the same length as the court.
Europa Clipper Compared to a Basketall Court
Two major pieces of hardware – Europa Clipper’s vault, with the nadir deck attached – are prepared for a move to the High Bay 1 clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsi...
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Two major pieces of flight hardware for the Europa Clipper spacecraft are attached to a flotron machine in a cleanroom. The hardware is visible in the rear middle of the images. The flotron is a large structure that allows the hardware to be rotated and moved for assembly purposes. The flight hardware consists of a large aluminum vault, which is shaped like a box. Within the vault, sensitive electronics will live, protecting them from radiation in Jupiter's environment. Attached the vault is a metal deck, called the nadir deck. Attached to this metal deck are multiple instrument sensors and cameras, which will allow the spacecraft to conduct science. Four engineers in full body coveralls and masks are seen working on flotron. An American flag is visible in the top left of the image.
NASA's Europa Clipper: Vault and Nadir Deck on Their Way
An engineer performs wavefront tests on the optical telescope assembly for the Europa Imaging System narrow angle camera.
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An engineer performs wavefront tests on the optical telescope assembly for the Europa Imaging System narrow angle camera.
Europa Imaging System Optical Telescope Assembly
Technicians offload NASA's Europa Clipper from a U.S. Air Force transport aircraft at Kennedy Space Center on May 23, 2024.
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The back of a green transport aircraft is open like a giant duck's bill, and the shipping container hold Europa Clipper can be seen sitting inside. A ramp extends from the back of the plane. Workers are giving hand signals as they guide the shipping container off the plane.
Europa Clipper Arrives in Florida
Engineers prepare Europa Clipper's thermal imager for a series of tests in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory following delivery.
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An engineer’s gloved hand on the casing holding the thermal imager instrument, located on a table in a clean room, preparing it for functional testing.
Thermal Imager Delivered to JPL
Europa Clipper’s surface dust analyzer instrument is examined following delivery to JPL in September 2022.
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An engineer in a full body coverall and a fask mask is shown on the left side of the image, holding a small black flashlight the size of a pen and examining Europa Clipper’s surface dust analyzer instrument. The instrument is gold colored and about the size of a drum, resting on its side. The instrument is resting upon a silver workbench in the cleanroom.
Europa Clipper's Dust Analyzer Delivered to JPL