Skip Navigation
CLIPPER CAM
icon/broadcasting LIVE
menu close modal

All Resources

Europa Clipper Vault Plate - Inward Facing Top

This is a close-up view of the top of the Europa Clipper's triangular-shaped silver vault plate. It has a rounded top and a flat bottom. This view shows the Drake Equation, and a drawing of the Jovian system with Jupiter replaced with a bottle.
Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Published: March 8, 2024

This close-up view of the top of the inward-facing side of the Europa Clipper vault plate shows the Drake Equation engraved in the handwriting of astrophysicist and astrobiologist Frank Drake (1930–2022). The Drake Equation is a tribute to the visionary idea that the probability of finding life in the cosmos is something we can estimate.

Below the equation is the Jovian system with a bottle replacing Jupiter. It's orbited by the four largest moons of Jupiter, including Europa. The names of the more than 2.6 million people who participated in NASA’s "Message in a Bottle" campaign are etched on a fingernail-sized silicon chip that will be attached to the vault plate.

ENLARGE

Related

This image of Europa, smallest of Jupiter's four Galilean satellites, was acquired by Voyager 2 on July 9, 1979
More
half-disc, black and white view of cracked icy surface
Europa's Fractured Surface
Europa Clipper’s surface dust analyzer instrument was delivered to JPL in September 2022. 
More
A large group of engineers in full white body coveralls stand surrounding Europa Clipper’s surface dust analyzer. All the engineers are giving a “thumbs up” hand gesture to indicate that the instrument was successfully delivered. Nine engineers stand to the left of a silver workbench, on which the instrument rests, and six stand to the right of the workbench. 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
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
Europa Clipper's propulsion module sits in the cleanroom at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
More
Europa Clipper's propulsion module sits in the cleanroom at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Europa Clipper Propulsion Module
In a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, engineers handle Europa Clipper’s newly installed star trackers.
More
Four engineers wearing white full-body coveralls, gloves, and masks, handle a flat metal structure a few inches thick, to which are attached two telescopes a foot or more long, while a fifth worker in identical attire stands to the side, holding hand-held controls for the crane that’s lofting the hardware.
Star Tracker Integration
Join team members from NASA’s Europa Clipper mission in a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to learn about testing of the spacecraft’s magnetometer.
More
Video giving an update on Europa Clipper's magnetometer.
Spacecraft Makers: Testing Europa Clipper's Magnetometer
The flight model of Europa Clipper’s Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE) instrument in a cleanroom at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California. 
More
Shown is the flight model of Europa Clipper’s Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE) instrument in a cleanroom at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California. MISE will map the distribution of ices, salts, organics, and the warmest hotspots on Europa. In collaboration with the spacecraft’s other instruments – particularly the visible light cameras and ice-penetrating radar – infrared maps from MISE will help scientists understand Europa’s geologic history, which is one of the key characteristics that will help scientists determine if Europa’s suspected ocean is suitable for life.
MISE Assembly
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
Europa Clipper’s dust analyzer shown in a clean room.
More
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.
Europa Clipper's Dust Analyzer
Frozen sulfuric acid on Jupiter's moon Europa is depicted in this image produced from data gathered by NASA's Galileo spacecraft.
More
hemispheric view of moon where shades of color indicate concentrations of chemicals
Sulfuric Acid on Europa
The eleventh Europa Clipper science team meeting.
More
A woman stands on stage on the left addressing a group of team scientists on the right, who are seated at multiple tables.
Europa Clipper Science Team Meeting
False color has been used here to enhance the visibility of certain features in this composite of three images of the Minos Linea region on Jupiter's moon Europa taken on June 28, 1996 Universal Ti...
More
cracked ice in bright color
Europa In Color
This image shows a close-up view of terrain within the region of Europa's surface named Conamara.
More
Image of terrain on Europa
Conamara Color Closeup
The picture compares four large impact structures on Jupiter's icy moon, Europa.
More
four black and white views of circular features on icy terrain
Large Impact Structures on Europa
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
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...
More
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
This animation segment shows the deployment of NASA’s Europa Clipper ECM boom after launch.
More
This animation shows a boom expanding from the Europa Clipper spacecraft.
Mission Animation: ECM Boom Deployment (Close)
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
Engineers inspect Europa Clipper's ultraviolet spectrograph in a cleanroom at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
More
Engineers inspect Europa Clipper's ultraviolet spectrograph in a cleanroom at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Engineers Inspect Ultraviolet Spectrograph
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...
More
black and whire view of curving ridges on an icy surface
Cracks and Ridges Distorted by Europan Fault Motion
The flight model for MISE’s diffraction grating, which disperses light, in a manner similar to a prism, before the light strikes the instrument's detector.
More
The flight model for MISE’s diffraction grating, which disperses light, in a manner similar to a prism, before the light strikes the instrument's detector.
MISE Diffraction Grating
An accelerometer is attached to a plasma instrument sensor assembly during a vibration test.
More
An accelerometer is attached to a plasma instrument sensor assembly during a vibration test.
Plasma Instrument Vibration Testing
Engineers inspect Europa Clipper's ultraviolet spectrograph in a cleanroom at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California after delivery.
More
Image showing engineers inspecting the spacecraft's ultraviolet spectrograph in a cleanroom.
Engineers Inspect Europa Clipper's Ultraviolet Spectrograph
The Europa Imaging System (EIS) wide-angle-camera team took its “first light” image with the telescope and detector in December 2021.
More
The wide-angle camera team is captured in the instrument's first light test at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
Wide Angle Camera First Light
Mechanical engineers set up Europa Clipper's Wide Angle Camera outside of a thermal-vacuum chamber.
More
Mechanical engineers set up Europa Clipper's Wide Angle Camera outside of a thermal-vacuum chamber.
Europa Imaging System Wide Angle Camera