Our Contribution
Destination Europa
The search for life in the solar system beyond Earth gets a boost when NASA’s Europa Clipper mission launches in the mid-2020s to explore under the icy crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa. A partnership between APL and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Europa Clipper isn’t meant to find life itself—but it will help determine what ingredients for life are present on Europa and answer questions about how they interact with one another to create a habitable world. In addition to building the spacecraft’s communications, propulsion, and power systems, APL is contributing two science instruments: the Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding, which scientists will use to determine the thickness of the ice that encases Europa as well as the depth and salinity of its ocean, and the Europa Imaging System, which will cover the moon in unprecedented high resolution.