Who is Europa Clipper?

Europa Clipper is a space explorer that will visit a moon called Europa to check if it could have life under its ice.

Imagine you have a big frozen lake in your backyard, and you want to know if there's a pond underneath the ice. That’s kind of what Europa Clipper is doing, but on a much bigger scale! It’s like a super smart robot that takes pictures and measurements from far away to help scientists understand what’s going on under Europa’s thick ice shell.

Europa Clipper is like a detective with a camera and tools. It will fly by Europa many times, taking close looks and snapping photos of the ice cracks and maybe even some water plumes that might shoot up from below. These clues help scientists guess if there’s liquid water, and possibly life, hidden under the ice.

Europa Clipper will travel all the way from Earth to Jupiter, where Europa lives. It’s like taking a really long road trip, but in space! Once it gets there, it will start its job as an explorer, sending back messages so scientists can learn more about this icy moon and maybe even find hints of life beyond our planet.