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Europa: Ocean World

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 one of humanity's most profound questions.

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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
A close-up view of the top of the inward-facing side of the Europa Clipper vault plate. It's engraved with the Drake Equation, and the Jovian system with a bottle replacing Jupiter. 
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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.
Europa Clipper Vault Plate - Inward Facing Top
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
The inward-facing side of the Europa Clipper vault plate has drawings, and a microchip engraved with more than 2.6 million names.
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A full view of the Europa Clipper vault plate’s inward-facing side. The upper portion features the Jovian system with a bottle replacing Jupiter, and the lower portion is dominated by a handwritten poem in elegant script. A lifelike engraved portrait sits to the left of the poem. The plate has a symmetrical arrangement of holes along its perimeter for mounting. The background is black, highlighting the metallic sheen of the plate and the details of the engravings.
Europa Clipper Vault Plate - Inward-Facing Side
When it launches in October, NASA's Europa Clipper will carry a richly layered dispatch that includes more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public.
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Video explaining Europa Clipper's special vault plate design.
NASA's Design for Message Heading to Jupiter's Moon Europa
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.
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Video giving an update on Europa Clipper's magnetometer.
Spacecraft Makers: Testing Europa Clipper's Magnetometer
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, scie...
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A 3D model of the Vault Plate.
Vault Plate
Explore Europa and the Europa Clipper spacecraft with an immersive AR experience.
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The Europa Clipper augmented reality experience layers Jupiter's moon Europa over any surface or background. The moon has options for the user to click on specific items to learn more information, such as the ingredients for life: water, energy, and chemistry. Following that, users an view a 3D model of the spacecraft and select individual instruments. Each section is narrated with audio.
ClipperAR: Europa Clipper Augmented Reality Experience
Europa Clipper’s 28-foot (8.5-meter) magnetometer boom is unfurled at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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Several workers in white lab coats, cleanroom bouffant caps, and blue face masks work around Europa Clipper’s magnetometer boom after the boom was unfurled. Some of the workers are on the floor beneath the boom. Others are standing nearby. The boom is covered in protective silver-colored material and is supported by several aluminum-colored stands.
Europa Clipper Team Deploys Magnetometer Boom
Join team members from NASA’s Europa Clipper mission behind the scenes in a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to learn about the design of this spacecraft that will visit Europa, an ic...
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Join team members from NASA’s Europa Clipper mission behind the scenes in a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to learn about the design of this spacecraft that will visit Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter.
Spacecraft Makers: Introducing Europa Clipper
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón is writing an original poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission.
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U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón is standing on the right side of this image, wearing a dark blue suit and looking to the left. A glass wall separates Limón from the clean room, which is visible on the left side of the image. In the distance, the Europa Clipper is visible as it is being assembled in the clean room. It is in a horizontal position with scaffolding surrounding it. Approximately nine engineers are visible near the spacecraft wearing white full-body coveralls.
Poem by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón Will Ride to Europa on NASA Spacecraft
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón is writing an original poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission.
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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
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón is writing an original poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission.
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U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón is standing in the center of this image, looking up. She is surrounded by consoles with screens and a sign on the back reads “Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology” next to the NASA meatball logo.
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón Visits Mission Control at NASA's JPL
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón is writing an original poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission.
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U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón is standing in the center of this image, facing the camera, wearing a dark blue suit. Behind Limón is a long console stretching from both sides of the image with multiple screens. Signs in the background read “Data Controller”, and a sign on the wall behind Limón reads “Charles Elachi Mission Control”. Limón is standing in front of a glass light box that is inlaid into the carpeted floor. Within the box is a metal plaque that reads “Center of the Universe”.
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón Visits Mission Control at NASA's JPL
Solar array “wings” for NASA’s Europa Clipper in the cleanroom of Airbus in Leiden, the Netherlands.
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The spacecraft’s large solar array wings take up the majority of this image. They are parallel to each other in position and the image is taken at angle, so you can see the solar arrays extended into the background of the image. Each solar array wing consists of five panels connected to each other to form a long solar array wing that is approximately 46.5 feet (14.2 meters) long. Bronze colored lines are visible creating a grid pattern on each panel. Each solar array wing is hoisted several feet above the ground by support structures that attach to each solar array wing panel. The solar array wings are tall with an approximate height of 13.5 feet (4.1 meters). Walking between the solar array wings is an engineer wearing blue protective clothing. The engineer doesn’t even appear to come up to half the height of the solar array wings. The solar array wings are visible in a large white cleanroom, and the area with the wings is cordoned off with a red barrier.
NASA Europa Clipper Solar Arrays Assembly
A 3D model of Europa Clipper. 
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3D model of Europa Clipper
Europa Clipper Downloadable 3D Model
Jupiter’s icy moon Europa may be the most promising place in the solar system to find present-day environments suitable for life beyond Earth.
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infographic illustrating various facts about Europa including its discovery, size, surface, interior, and ocean depth
Deep Dive on Jupiter's Moon Europa Infographic
A 3D model of the SUrface Dust Analyzer (SUDA), a chemical analysis instrument on Europa Clipper.
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3d model of the suda instrument
SUDA
A 3D model of the Europa Imaging System (EIS), an imager on Europa Clipper.
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3D model of the EIS instrument
EIS
A 3D model of Europa Clipper’s Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Europa-UVS), a spectrometry instrument on Europa Clipper.
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3D model of the europa-uvs instrument
Europa-UVS
A 3D model of the Europa Thermal Emission Imaging System (E-THEMIS), an imager on Europa Clipper.
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3D model of the E-THEMIS instrument
E-THEMIS
A 3D model of the Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE), a spectrometry instrument on Europa Clipper. 
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3D model of the MISE instrument
MISE
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
A 3D model of the Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding (PIMS), a plasma and magnetic field instrument on Europa Clipper. 
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3d model of PIMS instrument
PIMS
A 3D model of Gravity/Radio Science, a radar & gravity instrument on Europa Clipper.
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3d model of the Gravity/Radio Science instruments
Gravity/Radio Science