← Back to journal
Worlds / ARTICLE 03READING TIME / 5 MIN
An ocean beneath ice
Why Jupiter’s icy moon is a leading destination in the search for habitable environments.
OCTOBER 14, 2024 / MISSION LAUNCH
FIELD NOTE / 003
Europa is covered in ice. Evidence points to a vast salty liquid-water ocean beneath its surface — an environment worth studying in the search for conditions suitable for life.
Beneath the frozen crust
Europa’s gravitational interactions with Jupiter generate tidal heating, one mechanism that may help sustain a subsurface ocean.
What Clipper is looking for
Europa Clipper is not a life-detection mission. It is designed to determine whether Europa has the ingredients and conditions that could support life: water, chemistry and energy.
Dozens of close passes
Europa Clipper launched October 14, 2024. It is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in April 2030 and orbit Jupiter while making repeated close flybys of Europa.
To search for life, we must first learn where life might be possible.
Primary sourcesNASA / CLIPPER ↗
Next story — Seeing through dust