Europa Archives

The “Message in a Bottle” campaign offers everyone the opportunity to have their name stenciled onto a microchip bearing U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa.” The chip will ride aboard NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft to Jupiter and its moon Europa. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Astrobiology (general), Education and Outreach, Europa, Missions & Hardware, Press Release

NASA Invites The Public To Sign A Poem That Will Fly Aboard Europa Clipper

by Keith CowingJune 2, 2023May 27, 2024

Members of the public are invited to add their names to an original poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission before the spacecraft begins its journey to Jupiter’s moon Europa […]

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Callisto, Europa, Ganymede, Gas Giants, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Io, Jupiter, Missions & Hardware, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Jupiter Science Enabled by ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer

by Keith CowingMay 7, 2023April 14, 2024

ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) will provide a detailed investigation of the Jovian system in the 2030s, combining a suite of state-of-the-art instruments with an orbital tour tailored to […]

Engineers and technicians work on the towering main body of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. A new video series lifts the curtain on the clean room and shows audiences what goes into building space missions. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Europa, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Video, Audio, Webcasts, Podcasts

A New Video Series Documents The Europa Clipper Astrobiology Mission

by Keith CowingMay 2, 2023May 27, 2024

Destined for Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, the Europa Clipper spacecraft – the largest NASA has ever flown on an interplanetary mission – is being readied to launch in October 2024.

Column density maps for H2 (top left), H (top right), and O (bottom) from the torus model (Smith et al. 2019, 2022) in a plane through Jupiter and corresponding to the viewing geometry of the first torus-centered exposure le2oa1010 (Table 1) from 2020. For O, the tori of Europa-genic (left) and Io-genic (right) material are shown separately. Jupiter (large black circle) is centered and Io (white, behind Jupiter) and Europa (black) are shown by the smaller disks to the right (west of Jupiter). The densities are higher closer to the moons (here, west of Jupiter) and the HST/COS observations scanned over the densest regions of the Europa-genic neutrals from 8.0 RJ to 12.5 RJ. (Note that the viewing geometry in Figure 1 corresponds to an 1.5-hour earlier exposure). -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Europa, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Constraints On Europa’s Water Group Torus From HST/COS Observations

by Keith CowingApril 18, 2023April 18, 2023

In-situ plasma measurements as well as remote mapping of energetic neutral atoms around Jupiter provide indirect evidence that an enhancement of neutral gas is present near the orbit of the […]

The Europa Imaging System Narrow-Angle Camera (NAC) will allow NASA’s Europa Clipper mission to capture views of Jupiter’s moon Europa in unparalleled detail, bringing us nearer to answering the question of whether the icy moon can potentially harbor life. Credit: Johns Hopkins APL/Craig Weiman

Europa, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Press Release

Europa Imaging System Narrow-Angle Camera Delivered to JPL

by Keith CowingApril 14, 2023April 14, 2023

After years of work to design, build, and run tests, engineers and scientists at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) bid farewell to the Europa Imaging System (EIS) Narrow-Angle […]

Away Teams & Field Reports, Callisto, Europa, Ganymede, Icy Worlds, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

JUICE Leaves Earth On An Astrobiology Expedition To Jupiter’s Ocean Moons

by Keith CowingApril 14, 2023April 14, 2023

ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana at 14:14 CEST on 14 April. The successful launch marks the […]

Callisto, Europa, Ganymede, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Jupiter, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Spotlight On Ganymede, JUICE’s Primary Target

by Keith CowingApril 12, 2023November 17, 2023

A key focus of ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) will be Ganymede: Jupiter’s largest moon, and an ideal natural laboratory for studying the icy worlds of the Solar System.

Sonar image of bubble plumes at Pythia’s Oasis. This is a perspective view looking northeast at the bubble plumes rising above Pythia’s Oasis, imaged during a 2018 transect onboard the R/V Revelle using a Kongsberg EM122 multibeam sonar. The hydroacoustic data were filtered using Fledermaus Midwater and reveal gas bubbles rising >500 m into the overlying ocean (image is 2× vertically exaggerated). The bathymetry shown here was collected onboard the R/V Thompson in 2015 and has been gridded at 20-m horizontal resolution.

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Pythia’s Oasis Has Warm liquid Spewing From The Seafloor Offering Clues To Earthquake Hazards

by Keith CowingApril 11, 2023April 11, 2023

Editor’s note: Pythia’s Oasis is a newly-discovered seafloor seep off the coast of Oregon featuring water with a unique composition from an exceptionally deep location inside Earth. A varied ecosystem […]

Image of the snailfish alive from 7500-8200m in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench. -- University of Western Australia

Analog Studies, Away Teams & Field Reports, Enceladus, Europa, Ganymede, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Away Team Discovers Earth’s Deepest Fish

by Keith CowingApril 4, 2023April 4, 2023

Editor’s note: as we explore the extreme depth’s of Earth’s oceans we are also developed the skills we will need to explore the oceans of Europa, Enceladus, Ganymede etc. in […]

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Exploration Gear & Tech, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Tricorders & Sensors

Away Team Droids: Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS)

by Keith CowingMarch 20, 2023March 20, 2023

The EELS system is a mobile instrument platform conceived to explore internal terrain structures, assess habitability and ultimately search for evidence of life. It is designed to be adaptable to […]