14 Facts About Europa Clipper

1.

Europa Clipper is an interplanetary mission in development by NASA comprising an orbiter.

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2.

Europa Clipper will perform follow-up studies to those made by the Galileo spacecraft during its eight years in Jupiter orbit, which indicated the existence of a subsurface ocean underneath Europa's ice crust.

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3.

Europa Clipper has been identified as one of the locations in the Solar System that could possibly harbor microbial extraterrestrial life.

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4.

Mission to Europa Clipper was recommended by the National Research Council in 2013.

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5.

Goals of Europa Clipper are to explore Europa, investigate its habitability and aid in the selection of a landing site for the future Europa Lander.

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6.

Therefore, another key limiting factor on science for a Europa Clipper orbiter is the time available to return data to Earth.

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7.

Europa Clipper mission is equipped with a sophisticated suite of 9 instruments to study Europa's interior and ocean, geology, chemistry, and habitability.

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8.

The principal investigator Kurt Retherford was part of a group that discovered plumes erupting from Europa Clipper while using the Hubble Space Telescope in the UV spectrum.

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9.

Interior Characterization of Europa Clipper using Magnetometry was cancelled due to cost overruns.

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10.

SUrface Dust Analyzer is a mass spectrometer that will measure the composition of small solid particles ejected from Europa Clipper, providing the opportunity to directly sample the surface and potential plumes on low-altitude flybys.

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11.

Europa Clipper mission considered an extra mass of about 250 kilograms to carry an additional flight element.

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12.

The Europa Clipper would have relayed signals from the nanosatellites back to Earth.

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13.

European proposal, the Europa Clipper Tomography Probe, was a concept for an independent powered spacecraft equipped with a magnetometer that would orbit Europa Clipper on a polar orbit for at least six months.

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14.

Congress had originally mandated that Europa Clipper be launched on NASA's Space Launch System super heavy-lift launch vehicle, but NASA had requested that other vehicles be allowed to launch the spacecraft due to a foreseen lack of available SLS vehicles.

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