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Vault Plate

Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Published: October 25, 2023

Explore the intricate design of NASA's Europa Clipper vault plate in 3D: Spin the digital model to discover the languages of Earth, celestial equations, and a poem for Europa, all uniting art, science, and humanity in a message of exploration.

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Europa Clipper’s mass spectrometer was delivered to JPL in December 2022.
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A group of eleven engineers wearing full-body white protective clothing stand facing the camera in a cleanroom. All of the engineers are giving a thumbs up hand expression. In the middle of the group of engineers is a large transparent box, approximately five feet tall, two feet wide, and two feet deep. Inside the transparent box is the mass spectrometer. 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.
Europa Clipper's Mass Spectrometer Delivered to JPL
This view of the Pwyll impact crater on Jupiter's moon Europa taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft shows the interior structure and surrounding ejecta deposits.
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This view of the Conamara Chaos region on Jupiter's moon Europa taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft shows an area where the icy surface has been broken into many separate plates that have moved late...
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Engineering flight technicians install the flight scanner into the MISE instrument.
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Two engineering flight technicians, one with white and one with light-brown skin, wearing full protective gear at a table in a clean room, installing the flight scanner into the MISE instrument.
MISE Flight Scanner Installation
Engineers inspect Europa Clipper's ultraviolet spectrograph in a cleanroom at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
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Engineers inspect Europa Clipper's ultraviolet spectrograph in a cleanroom at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Engineers Inspect Ultraviolet Spectrograph
Could a liquid water ocean beneath the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa have the ingredients to support life? Here's how NASA's mission to Europa would find out.
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Alien Ocean
This image shows two views of the trailing hemisphere of Jupiter's ice-covered satellite, Europa.
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A 3D model of the SUrface Dust Analyzer (SUDA), a chemical analysis instrument on Europa Clipper.
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SUDA
This graphic of Jupiter's moon Europa maps a relationship between the amount of energy deposited onto the moon from charged-particle bombardment and the chemical contents of ice deposits on the sur...
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Energy From Above Affecting Surface of Europa
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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This three dimensional effect is created by superimposing images of Jupiter's icy moon, Europa, which were taken from slightly different perspectives.
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Engineers and technicians in a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory display the thick-walled aluminum vault they helped build for the Europa Clipper spacecraft. The vault will protect the...
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Engineers and technicians in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California stand between the thick-walled aluminum vault and its duplicate that they helped build for the agency's Europa Clipper spacecraft.
Complete: Europa Clipper Vault and Its Twin
This simulation shows possible spectroscopy results of Europa’s water plumes, obtained using the Webb telescope’s NIRSpec instrument.
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Reanalysis of old data data suggests that the Galileo spacecraft, on its closest flyby of Europa, flew through a plume.
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This is an artist's concept of a plume of water vapor thought to be ejected off the frigid, icy surface of the Jovian moon Europa.
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Artist's Concept of Europa Water Vapor Plume
The scanning mirror and data processing unit of Europa Clipper’s imaging spectrometer instrument.
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The scanning mirror and data processing unit of Europa Clipper’s imaging spectrometer instrument, called MISE, are critical to determining the habitability of the ocean that likely resides beneath Europa’s surface.
Imaging Spectrometer's Scanning Mirror and Data Processing Unit
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
Engineers in a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory build the nadir deck for NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft. The deck will stabilize the spacecraft’s sensors and help the mission team e...
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Engineers in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California build the nadir deck for NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft.
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An engineer handles the SUrface Dust Analyzer (SUDA) in the clean room at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dry nitrogen gas is continua...
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An image showing an engineer handles the SUrface Dust Analyzer (SUDA) in the clean room at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dry nitrogen gas is continually pumped through the instrument during assembly and testing to ensure it remains clean and free of contaminants.
Dust Analyzer in the Clean Room
Europa Clipper’s dust analyzer shown in a clean room.
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The gold colored SUDA sensor head is shown resting on a table in a clean room, seen in the center left of this image. The cover to the sensor head is closed, and to the right a small, silver electronics box is visible. Combined, the pieces make up the entire SUDA instrument. The background space in the clean room is lit up purple.
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This color image of the Jovian moon Europa was acquired by Voyager 2 during its close encounter on Monday morning, July 9, 1979. 
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