Skip Navigation
menu close modal

All Resources

Europa Clipper Arrives in Florida

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.
Source: NASA/Isaac Watson
Published: May 24, 2024
Historical Date: May 23, 2024

Technicians offload NASA’s largest planetary mission spacecraft, Europa Clipper, from a United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, May 23, 2024.

Crews will prepare it for launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the Florida spaceport, targeting liftoff on Tuesday, June 25. Europa Clipper will help determine if life-sustaining conditions exist below the surface of Jupiter’s fourth largest moon, Europa.

ENLARGE

Related

Explore Europa and the Europa Clipper spacecraft with an immersive AR experience.
More
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 deployed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
More
Seven workers in white lab coats, cleanroom bouffant caps, and blue face masks stand near Europa Clipper’s magnetometer boom after the boom was unfurled. The boom is covered in protective silver-colored material and is supported by several aluminum-colored stands.
The Europa Clipper Magnetometer Boom Deployed
Students use the fundamentals of density to propose a model for the interior structure of Europa.
More
Two clear plastic clubs are visible on a table. The cup visible on the left has sediment on the bottom and water above it. The cup visible on the right has coarse rocks on the bottom and water and ice above it.
Discovering Alien Oceans: Density
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.
More
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
This artist's rendering shows NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft, which is being developed for a launch sometime in the 2020s. 
More
spacecraft over surface of Europa with Jupiter in background
2019 Europa Clipper Spacecraft (Artist's Concept)
This color image of the Jovian moon Europa was acquired by Voyager 2 during its close encounter on Monday morning, July 9, 1979. 
More
color view of cracked, icy surface
Europa During Voyager 2 Closest Approach
This animation segment shows the fairing separation after NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft leaves Earth. 
More
An animation showing the payload fairing, which is the nose cone used to protect a spacecraft payload during launch, separating and revealing the Europa Clipper spacecraft after launch.
Mission Animation: Fairing Separation
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
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
The dual electronics unit for Europa Clipper’s stellar reference unit (also called a star tracker) in a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 
More
The dual electronics unit for Europa Clipper’s stellar reference unit (also called a star tracker) in a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Star Tracker Dual Electronics Unit
This image of Europa, an icy satellite of Jupiter about the size of the Earth's Moon, was obtained from a range of 7,415 miles (11,933 kilometers) by the Galileo spacecraft during its fourth orbit ...
More
circular pattern on icy surface
Macula on Europa
These images reveal the dramatic topography of Europa's icy crust.
More
A black and white and 3D image on ridges on Europa.
3D View of Double Ridges on Europa
Diurnal temperature color image from the first light test of Europa Clipper’s thermal imager.
More
Diurnal temperature color image from the first light test of Europa Clipper’s thermal imager.
Thermal Imager's First Light Color Image
The ultraviolet spectrograph will collect ultraviolet light and create images to help determine the composition of Europa’s atmospheric gases and surface materials
More
The ultraviolet spectrograph will collect ultraviolet light and create images to help determine the composition of Europa’s atmospheric gases and surface materials
Europa Clipper's Ultraviolet Spectrograph
The Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Europa-UVS) flight instrument in early fall 2021, just before the principal investigator's final optical inspection and installation of its top cover. 
More
The Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Europa-UVS) flight instrument in early fall 2021, just before the principal investigator's final optical inspection and installation of its top cover.
Final Inspection of Europa-UVS
A worker kneels beside Europa Clipper’s narrow-angle camera.
More
A worker kneels beside the Europa Clipper’s narrow-angle camera (NAC), which is on a metal platform with rods sticking straight up at the corners of the platform. The worker is covered head-to-toe in white protective clothing called a bunny suit. The worker is wearing a blue head covering, and a bright blue face mask. The NAC is wrapped in silver-colored insulating material, it has a round base about the size of tire. The lens is sticking out at an angle and is laced up inside the insulating material.
Europa Clipper's Narrow-Angle Camera Delivered to JPL
Europa Clipper’s ultraviolet spectrograph is the first science instrument installed on the spacecraft’s nadir deck.
More
A matte-gray polygonal structure about the size of a coffee table sits on end in a white and gray room, and an electronics box is mounted to the structure’s right side.
Ultraviolet Spectrograph Integration
This high resolution view of the Conamara Chaos region on Jupiter's icy moon, Europa, reveals craters which range in size from about 98 feet (30 meters) to slightly over a quarter of a mile (over 4...
More
black and white view of craters and other terrain features
Small Craters on Europa
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) engineers align the upper and lower cylinders of Europa Clipper’s propulsion module for a fit check.
More
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) engineers align the upper and lower cylinders of Europa Clipper’s propulsion module for a fit check.
Propulsion Module Fit Check
The Propulsion Module Development Test Model lower cylinder section undergoes a static load test in a cleanroom at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. 
More
The Propulsion Module Development Test Model lower cylinder section undergoes a static load test in a cleanroom at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland.
Propulsion Module Development Test Model
The top image is a very high resolution view of the Conamara Chaos region on Jupiter's moon Europa, showing an area where icy plates have been broken apart and moved around laterally. The bottom im...
More
two black an white images, on showing icy terrain and another showing a city
Very High Resolution Image of Icy Cliffs on Europa and Similar Scales on Earth (Providence, RI)
The Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Europa-UVS) flight instrument in early fall 2021, in its final configuration.
More
The Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Europa-UVS) flight instrument in early fall 2021, in its final configuration.
Europa-UVS Final Configuration
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón makes her first visit to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
More
Poet Ada Limón is given a tour of JPL where Europa Clipper is under construction. She sees the spacecraft for the first time.
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón Visits NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
A small region of the thin, disrupted, ice crust in the Conamara region of Jupiter's moon Europa showing the interplay of surface color with ice structures.
More
color view of fractured icy terrain
Ice Rafting on Europa
An engineer inspects the radio frequency (RF) panel of NASA’s Europa Clipper.
More
An engineer inspects the radio frequency (RF) panel of NASA’s Europa Clipper.
Inspecting Europa Clipper's RF Panel