NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft has embarked on a groundbreaking journey to explore one of the solar system’s most intriguing destinations: Jupiter’s moon Europa, long considered one of the most promising places to search for extraterrestrial life. Equipped with a suite of nine sophisticated instruments, Europa Clipper will probe the moon’s hidden depths, analyze its frozen surface, and even scout for future landing sites.
The Aerospace Corporation has contributed to the mission’s success, supporting key aspects of spacecraft design, navigation and performance. Aerospace’s technical expertise has helped transform Europa Clipper from inspiring concept into one of the most ambitious planetary missions ever attempted.
Launched from Kennedy Space Center last year, the $5 billion Europa Clipper spacecraft is the largest ever built for a planetary mission. Its journey is carefully choreographed: the spacecraft first headed toward Mars, gathering speed before looping back toward Earth. Next year, a final gravitational assist from Earth will sling it onto a high-velocity trajectory toward Jupiter. After traveling for about four and a half years, Europa Clipper will enter the Jovian system in 2030 and conduct roughly 50 close flybys of Europa.
At the heart of the mission led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory lies a fundamental question: could Europa harbor life beneath its icy surface? Scientists hope Europa Clipper will provide clues by answering three critical questions: how thick is Europa’s ice shell, what is its composition and what geologic processes shape the moon’s surface? The answers could revolutionize our understanding of habitability beyond Earth.
“Europa is unique because it’s covered in an icy shell, and it’s believed that underneath that icy shell there is a large ocean. Within this ocean there might be life,” said Hannah Weiher, senior project engineer in Aerospace’s Civil Systems Group, who supported Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) activities for the Europa Clipper mission. “NASA hasn’t had a dedicated mission to explore Europa previously, so this mission is really exciting.”
Navigating the Journey
Weiher’s contributions were vital in ensuring that Europa Clipper can navigate with precision and stability on its long voyage. Her work focused on validating the spacecraft’s GNC systems, which allow it to determine its orientation, maintain stability and steer through its voyage and its many complex flybys of Europa.
This required the creation of a sophisticated system testbed to validate GNC requirements, along with developing simulation and test strategies to anticipate mission challenges. By modeling spacecraft behavior and its interaction with Europa’s environment well before launch, Aerospace helped identify and solve potential problems — minimizing risks once the spacecraft was in flight.
Aerospace also partnered with JPL to conduct rigorous testing at specialized facilities that replicate flight conditions. These testbeds allowed engineers to evaluate spacecraft hardware under realistic scenarios and verify fault management systems designed to protect the spacecraft. If Europa Clipper encounters unexpected issues during its voyage, these systems can autonomously place the spacecraft into a safe configuration, giving ground teams valuable time to troubleshoot and intervene.
“Europa Clipper has nine instruments that will all be gathering different data about Europa as it performs its flybys,” said Carlos Garcia, project engineer in Aerospace’s Civil Systems Group. “Each one of those instruments will be gathering its own type of data that can help unlock a different piece of the puzzle about whether Europa has the conditions that can support life.”
Shaping a Mission for Discovery
Aerospace’s contributions extend beyond navigation and testing. Its engineers and scientists have provided deep technical leadership and rigorous systems analysis that have been essential in shaping Europa Clipper into a resilient spacecraft capable of meeting extraordinary challenges. The mission represents not only a scientific milestone but also a testament to effective collaboration.
The road ahead is long, but with each milestone, Europa Clipper draws closer to unraveling Europa’s secrets. If its discoveries reveal that Europa’s subsurface ocean harbors the conditions necessary for life, it will mark a profound step forward in humanity’s search for life in the cosmos.
“When we bring together minds from both JPL and Aerospace, we make such a strong team,” said Weiher. “This mission is just beginning, and there is still so much more to come!”
