How NASA engineers build a spacecraft to survive the brutal radiation of Jupiter
The Europa Clipper is the largest interplanetary spacecraft NASA has ever constructed. Designed to investigate whether Jupiter’s icy moon could harbor life, it must endure a six-year, 1.6-billion-mile journey. Go behind the scenes in the legendary clean room where this sophisticated machine is being prepared for its 2030 arrival.
The Europa Clipper mission represents a monumental engineering challenge. To reach the Jupiter system by 2030, the spacecraft must be robust enough to withstand a 1.6-billion-mile journey while remaining sensitive enough to conduct a detailed scientific investigation. Because orbiting Europa directly would expose the craft to the gas giant’s intense radiation belts, the mission plan instead calls for about 50 flybys of the moon. During these encounters, a suite of instruments will analyze the thickness of the ice crust, the depth of the subsurface ocean, and potential water plumes venting into space.
Construction is taking place in High Bay 1 at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. This facility is historic, having served as the assembly site for the twin Voyager spacecraft, all of NASA’s Mars rovers, and numerous other iconic missions. Project Manager Jordan Evans, who previously contributed to the Hubble Space Telescope and the Curiosity Mars rover, leads the effort alongside Deputy Science Manager Trina Ray, a veteran of the Cassini and Galileo missions. Their work involves translating complex scientific inquiries into tangible hardware, such as the spacecraft’s main communication antenna and specialized camera systems.
The mission is a collaborative effort managed by Caltech for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. While JPL leads the development, the project involves significant partnerships with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, which designed the main spacecraft body, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The ultimate goal is to determine if the ocean scientists believe exists beneath Europa’s icy surface could support life. By studying the moon’s composition and geology, researchers hope to gain a deeper understanding of the potential for habitable worlds beyond Earth.
The assembly process is documented in the video series Spacecraft Makers, which offers the public a rare look at the exacting standards required for interplanetary travel. As the team prepares for the launch from Kennedy Space Center, they continue to refine the spacecraft’s design to ensure it can successfully navigate the harsh environment of the Jupiter system.
