NASA to Preview Europa Clipper Mission to Jupiter Moon

[NASA]

This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter. The mission is targeting an Oct. 10, 2024, launch.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA will host a news conference at 11 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 17, at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to discuss the upcoming Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.

The briefing will be open to media and will air live on NASA+ and the agency’s website, plus Facebook, X, and YouTube. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

Participants in the news conference include:

• Gina DiBraccio, acting director, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters
• Jordan Evans, project manager, Europa Clipper, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Bonnie Buratti, deputy project scientist, Europa Clipper, JPL
• Stuart Hill, propulsion module delivery manager, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
• Armando Piloto, senior mission manager, NASA’s Launch Services Program

To ask questions by phone, members of the media must RSVP no later than two hours before the start of the event to Rexana Vizza at: rexana.v.vizza@jpl.nasa.gov.

Members of the news media from the U.S. and non-designated countries who are interested in covering the event in person at JPL must arrange access in advance by contacting Rexana Vizza at: rexana.v.vizza@jpl.nasa.gov no later than 3 p.m. EDT (12 p.m. PDT) on Thursday, Sept. 12. Media representatives must provide one form of government-issued photo identification. Non-U.S. citizens will need to bring a passport or a green card. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.

Questions can be asked on social media during the briefing using the hashtag #AskNASA.

Europa is one of the most promising places in our solar system to find an environment suitable for life beyond Earth. Evidence suggests that the ocean beneath Europa’s icy surface could contain the ingredients for life — water, the right chemistry, and energy. While Europa Clipper is not a life-detection mission, it will answer key questions about the moon’s potential habitability.

Europa Clipper’s launch period opens on Thursday, Oct. 10. The spacecraft, the largest NASA has ever built for a planetary mission, will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The main spacecraft body was designed by APL in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, manages the launch service for the Europa Clipper spacecraft.

To learn more about Europa Clipper, visit:

https://europa.nasa.gov

-end-

Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov

Val Gratias / Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-318-2141 / 818-393-6215
valerie.m.gratias@jpl.nasa.gov / gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov

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