NASA’s Europa Clipper is about to start a mission with a big question: Could there be life in the ocean hidden beneath the ice on Jupiter’s moon, Europa? After many years of wondering, the spacecraft is ready to explore a mystery that has puzzled scientists for over 25 years.
“This is a mission we’ve dreamed about for 25 years, since I was in graduate school,” says planetary geologist Cynthia Phillips from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “It’s a mission for our generation.”
The spacecraft is set to launch soon, after a short delay caused by Hurricane Milton. It will travel for five and a half years and reach Jupiter in April 2030. Once there, it will fly close to Europa many times, using nine advanced tools to study the moon’s icy surface.
Why Europa? Scientists have been interested in Europa since NASA’s Galileo spacecraft studied Jupiter in the 1990s. The surface of Europa has strange lines and cracks, and its icy landscape looks like broken icebergs. These signs suggest that a deep ocean might exist under the ice. The biggest clue is the moon’s magnetic field, which could be created by a salty ocean, similar to Earth’s.
Where there is water, there might be life. But just finding an ocean doesn’t mean Europa can support life. There are still many questions: How deep is the ocean? How thick is the ice? Does anything from the surface mix with the ocean to support life?
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NASA’s planetary science chief Gina DiBraccio said, “We think ocean worlds might be common in other parts of the universe. Clipper will help us learn more about whether these places could support life.”
Clipper’s Mission The Clipper spacecraft is named after fast ships from the 19th century. However, it won’t orbit Europa directly because Jupiter’s strong radiation is too dangerous. Instead, it will fly by the moon at least 49 times, collecting data and sending it back to Earth.
One of Clipper’s first jobs will be to find out if the hidden ocean really exists. It will measure how Europa pulls on the spacecraft to learn more about the moon’s inside. The spacecraft will also take clearer pictures of Europa than those taken by Galileo.
Clipper will examine the chemical makeup of Europa’s surface. With its advanced tools, it could find organic molecules — the building blocks of life — or amino acids, which could show that complex chemistry is happening beneath the ice.
Challenges of the Mission Clipper won’t be able to directly find life. Scientists would need a future mission that could land on Europa or dive into its ocean. For now, Clipper will collect data from its flybys and try to understand the moon from above.
Scientists hope Clipper will find evidence that water from the ocean sometimes reaches the surface, possibly through leaks or plumes. These findings could give clues about the ocean below.
“The ultimate discovery,” says project scientist Bonnie Buratti, “would be finding something like an amino acid on the surface.” Even the discovery of organic molecules would suggest that Europa has the ingredients for life, though proving life exists there will have to wait for future missions.
A Mission for the Future Europa Clipper is a major step in the search for life beyond Earth. While it won’t find life itself, it could guide future missions that might.
Phillips, who has dreamed of this mission for many years, knows she might not live to see a spacecraft dive into Europa’s ocean. “I probably won’t see a Europa submarine,” she says, “but maybe my kids or grandkids will.”
Science is not just about discoveries today, but about sparking curiosity in future generations.
