Jupiter's moon Europa is smaller than our own Moon, wrapped in an ice shell, and hiding what may be the largest ocean in the solar system underneath it. NASA's Europa Clipper launched in 2024 and is now mid-journey to find out whether that ocean could actually support life.
Europa's cracked ice shell, imaged by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute
Video via YouTube — NASA, official Europa Clipper launch coverage, Oct. 14, 2024.
Clipper carries no instrument that can detect life directly. Its job is narrower and more foundational: does Europa have the conditions life would need at all?
Evidence already points to a global liquid-water ocean under Europa's ice, kept warm by tidal flexing from Jupiter's gravity — Clipper will map its depth and salinity.
A Mars flyby (Feb 2025) and an Earth flyby (Dec 2026) build up speed before the spacecraft settles into orbit around Jupiter for dozens of close Europa passes.
Europa Clipper carries a tantalum plate engraved with "In Praise of Mystery," a poem written for the mission by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, alongside the Drake Equation and over 2.6 million public names — a small piece of Earth culture headed toward an ocean we've never seen.