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Learn Home Europa Trek: NASA Offers a New… Europa Clipper Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science 3 min read
Europa Trek: NASA Offers a New Guided Tour of Jupiter’s Ocean Moon
NASA’s Europa Clipper mission is on its way to explore a moon of Jupiter that researchers believe may be one of the best places in the Solar System to search for life beyond Earth. While the spacecraft makes its more-than-five year journey to Europa, scientists, students, teachers, and the public can tour and explore the landforms of Europa with newly-released enhancements to NASA’s Europa Trek web portal.
One of the largest of Jupiter’s nearly 100 recognized moons, Europa is covered with a global ice cap. But beneath that crust of ice, researchers have found an ocean of liquid water, estimated to have about twice the volume of all of Earth’s oceans combined. This vast amount of liquid water is of particular interest to astrobiologists, scientists studying the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the Universe. Though Europa’s ocean remains hidden beneath its global crust of ice, we can get important clues about its nature by studying the remarkable landforms of Europa’s icy surface.
To accompany the launch of Europa Clipper, NASA’s Solar System Treks Project released exciting new enhancements to its online Europa Trek portal on September 30, 2024. The new additions to Europa Trek allow users to interactively fly over and explore high-resolution imagery of Europa’s surface from the Voyager, Galileo, and Juno missions. Users can also take a new guided tour of Europa’s amazing landforms, with commentary developed by a collaboration between NASA’s Astrobiology Science Communication Guild and NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute. The tour and its commentary introduce virtual explorers to the geology and possible biological significance of the diverse features of Europa’s surface.
“This is really fun. It’s cool how you can zoom into the high resolution data. I’ll spread the word about using this!” – Bob Pappalardo, Europa Clipper Project Scientist
The new tour and capabilities of Europa Trek were featured at the Europa Clipper public launch program at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center on October 6,2024, in advance of the October 14 launch of the mission. As part of the public program conducted by NASA’s Planetary Mission Program Office, the Europa Trek exhibit allowed hundreds of visitors to try their hands at flying over Europa and visualizing its exotic terrain.
NASA’s Solar System Treks is an infrastructure project within NASA’s Science Activation Team. Their online portals are used for mission planning, planetary science research, and Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) education. NASA’s Astrobiology Science Communication Guild is an international, community-based network of astrobiologists who engage in science communication with diverse audiences and learners. Watch for future collaborations between Solar System Treks and the Astrobiology Science Communication Guild at more locations across the Solar System!
Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn
A stop along the guided tour of Europa landforms Share
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Last Updated Oct 23, 2024 Editor NASA Science Editorial Team Related Terms
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NASA operations engineer Daniel Velasquez, left, is reviewing the Mobile Vertipad Sensor Package system as part of the Air Mobility Pathways test project at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Oct. 17, 2023.NASA/Steve Freeman Lee esta historia en Español aquí.
Born and raised in Peru, Daniel Velasquez moved to the United States when was 10 years old. While that decision was a big transition for his family, it also created many opportunities for him. Now Velasquez is an operations engineer for NASA’s Air Mobility Pathfinders project at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.
Velasquez develops flight test plans for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, specifically testing how they perform during various phases of flight, such as taxi, takeoff, cruise, approach, and landing. He was drawn to NASA Armstrong because of the legacy in advancing flight research and the connection to the Space Shuttle program.
“Being part of a center with such a rich history in supporting space missions and cutting-edge aeronautics was a major motivation for me,” Velasquez said. “One of the biggest highlights of my career has been the opportunity to meet (virtually) and collaborate with an astronaut on a possible future NASA project.”
Daniel Velasquez stands next to the main entrance sign at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, in 2022.Daniel Velasquez Velasquez is incredibly proud of his Latino background because of its rich culture, strong sense of community and connection to his parents. “My parents are my biggest inspiration. They sacrificed so much to ensure my siblings and I could succeed, leaving behind the comfort of their home and family in Peru to give us better opportunities,” Velasquez said. “Their hard work and dedication motivate me every day. Everything I do is to honor their sacrifices and show them that their efforts weren’t wasted. I owe all my success to them.”
Velasquez began his career at NASA in 2021 as an intern through the Pathways Internship Program while he was studying aerospace engineering at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Through that program, he learned about eVTOL modeling software called NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft to create a help guide for other NASA engineers to reference when they worked with the software.
At the same time, he is also a staff sergeant in the U.S Army Reserves and responsible for overseeing the training and development of junior soldiers during monthly assemblies. He plans, creates, and presents classes for soldiers to stay up-to-date and refine their skills while supervising practical exercises, after action reviews, and gathering lessons learned during trainings.
Daniel Velasquez graduated in 2023 from Rutgers University in New Jersey while he was an intern at NASA. Behind him is the New York City skyline.Daniel Velasquez “This job is different than what I do day-to-day at NASA, but it has helped me become a more outspoken individual,” he said. “Being able to converse with a variety of people and be able to do it well is a skill that I acquired and refined while serving my country.”
Velasquez said he never imagined working for NASA as it was something he had only seen in movies and on television, but he is so proud to be working for the agency after all the hard work and sacrifices he made that lead him to this point. “I am incredibly proud to work every day with some of the most motivated and dedicated individuals in the industry.”
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Last Updated Oct 16, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:06 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. After launch, the spacecraft plans to fly by Mars in February 2025, then back by Earth in December 2026, using the gravity of each planet to increase its momentum. With help of these “gravity assists,” Europa Clipper will achieve the velocity needed to reach Jupiter in April 2030.Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett NASA’s Europa Clipper has embarked on its long voyage to Jupiter, where it will investigate Europa, a moon with an enormous subsurface ocean that may have conditions to support life. The spacecraft launched at 12:06 p.m. EDT Monday aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The largest spacecraft NASA ever built for a mission headed to another planet, Europa Clipper also is the first NASA mission dedicated to studying an ocean world beyond Earth. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) on a trajectory that will leverage the power of gravity assists, first to Mars in four months and then back to Earth for another gravity assist flyby in 2026. After it begins orbiting Jupiter in April 2030, the spacecraft will fly past Europa 49 times.
“Congratulations to our Europa Clipper team for beginning the first journey to an ocean world beyond Earth,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “NASA leads the world in exploration and discovery, and the Europa Clipper mission is no different. By exploring the unknown, Europa Clipper will help us better understand whether there is the potential for life not just within our solar system, but among the billions of moons and planets beyond our Sun.”
Approximately five minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s second stage fired up and the payload fairing, or the rocket’s nose cone, opened to reveal Europa Clipper. About an hour after launch, the spacecraft separated from the rocket. Ground controllers received a signal soon after, and two-way communication was established at 1:13 p.m. with NASA’s Deep Space Network facility in Canberra, Australia. Mission teams celebrated as initial telemetry reports showed Europa Clipper is in good health and operating as expected.
“We could not be more excited for the incredible and unprecedented science NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will deliver in the generations to come,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Everything in NASA science is interconnected, and Europa Clipper’s scientific discoveries will build upon the legacy that our other missions exploring Jupiter — including Juno, Galileo, and Voyager — created in our search for habitable worlds beyond our home planet.”
The main goal of the mission is to determine whether Europa has conditions that could support life. Europa is about the size of our own Moon, but its interior is different. Information from NASA’s Galileo mission in the 1990s showed strong evidence that under Europa’s ice lies an enormous, salty ocean with more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined. Scientists also have found evidence that Europa may host organic compounds and energy sources under its surface.
If the mission determines Europa is habitable, it may mean there are more habitable worlds in our solar system and beyond than imagined.
“We’re ecstatic to send Europa Clipper on its way to explore a potentially habitable ocean world, thanks to our colleagues and partners who’ve worked so hard to get us to this day,” said Laurie Leshin, director, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Europa Clipper will undoubtedly deliver mind-blowing science. While always bittersweet to send something we’ve labored over for years off on its long journey, we know this remarkable team and spacecraft will expand our knowledge of our solar system and inspire future exploration.”
In 2031, the spacecraft will begin conducting its science-dedicated flybys of Europa. Coming as close as 16 miles (25 kilometers) to the surface, Europa Clipper is equipped with nine science instruments and a gravity experiment, including an ice-penetrating radar, cameras, and a thermal instrument to look for areas of warmer ice and any recent eruptions of water. As the most sophisticated suite of science instruments NASA has ever sent to Jupiter, they will work in concert to learn more about the moon’s icy shell, thin atmosphere, and deep interior.
To power those instruments in the faint sunlight that reaches Jupiter, Europa Clipper also carries the largest solar arrays NASA has ever used for an interplanetary mission. With arrays extended, the spacecraft spans 100 feet (30.5 meters) from end to end. With propellant loaded, it weighs about 13,000 pounds (5,900 kilograms).
In all, more than 4,000 people have contributed to Europa Clipper mission since it was formally approved in 2015.
“As Europa Clipper embarks on its journey, I’ll be thinking about the countless hours of dedication, innovation, and teamwork that made this moment possible,” said Jordan Evans, project manager, NASA JPL. “This launch isn’t just the next chapter in our exploration of the solar system; it’s a leap toward uncovering the mysteries of another ocean world, driven by our shared curiosity and continued search to answer the question, ‘are we alone?’”
More About Europa Clipper
Europa Clipper’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.
Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA 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 NASA JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.
NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at NASA Kennedy, managed the launch service for the Europa Clipper spacecraft.
Find more information about NASA’s Europa Clipper mission here:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/europa-clipper
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Last Updated Oct 14, 2024 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
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By NASA
3 min read
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Felipe Valdez, a NASA engineer at Armstrong Flight Research Center’s Dale Reed Subscale Flight Research Laboratory, stands next to a subscale model of the Hybrid Quadrotor (HQ-90) aircraft. NASA / Charles Genaro Vavuris Felipe Valdez is someone who took advantage of every possible opportunity at NASA, working his way from undergraduate intern to his current job as a flight controls engineer.
Born in the United States but raised in Mexico, Valdez faced significant challenges growing up.
“My mom worked long hours, my dad battled addiction, and eventually, school became unaffordable,” Valdez said.
Determined to continue his education, Valdez made the difficult choice to leave his family and return to the U.S. But as a teenager, learning English and adapting to a new environment was a culture shock for him. Despite these changes, his curiosity for subjects such as math and science never wavered.
“As a kid, I’d always been good with numbers and fascinated by how things worked. Engineering combined both,” Valdez said. “This sparked my interest.”
While he pursued an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from California State University, Sacramento, guidance from his professor, Jose Granda, proved to be pivotal.
“He encouraged me to apply for a NASA internship,” Valdez said. “He’d actually been a Spanish-language spokesperson for a [space] shuttle mission, so hearing about someone with my background succeed gave me the confidence I needed to take that step.”
Valdez’s hard work paid off – he was selected as a NASA Office of STEM Engagement intern at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. There, he worked on software development for vehicle dynamics, actuators, and controller models for a space capsule in computer simulations.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Valdez said. “Getting that opportunity changed everything.”
This internship opened the door to a second with NASA this time at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California. He had the chance to work on flight computer development for the Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Lower Drag, an experimental flying wing design.
After these experiences, he was later accepted as an intern for NASA’s Pathways Program, a work-study program that offers the possibly of full-time employment at NASA after graduation.
“That was the start of my career at NASA, where my passion for aeronautics really took off,” he said.
Valdez was the first in his family to pursue higher education, earning his bachelor’s degree from Sacramento State and his master’s in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the University of California, Davis.
Today, he works as a NASA flight controls engineer under the Dynamics and Controls branch at Armstrong. Most of his experience has focused on flight simulation development and flight control design, particularly for distributed electric propulsion aircraft.
“It’s rewarding to be part of a group that’s focused on making aviation faster, quieter, and more sustainable,” Valdez said. “As a controls engineer, working on advanced aircraft concepts like distributed electric propulsion allows me design algorithms to directly control multiple motors, enhancing safety, controllability, and stability, while enabling cleaner, and quieter operations that push the boundaries of sustainable aviation.”
Throughout his career, Valdez has remained proud of his heritage. “I feel a strong sense of pride knowing that inclusion is one of our core values, opportunities are within reach for anyone at NASA.”
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Last Updated Oct 13, 2024 EditorJim BankeContactJessica Arreolajessica.arreola@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms
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By NASA
In her six years working with NASA, Miranda Peters has filled a variety of roles. She trained in flight control for the International Space Station, worked as a safety engineer in the station’s program office, and served as a project engineer working on next-generation spacesuit assembly and testing.
She has also embraced an unofficial duty: speaking openly and honestly about her neurodivergence.
“I used to hide it or avoid talking about it. I used to only see it as an impediment, but now I see how I can also do things or think about things in a unique way because of my disability,” she said. Peters said that when her neurodivergence impacts her ability to do something, she is honest about it and seeks help from her colleagues. “My hope is that when I talk about it openly, I am creating an environment where others with disabilities also feel comfortable being their true selves, in addition to humanizing the disabled community for those who are not a part of it.”
Miranda Peters stands inside one of Johnson Space Center’s testing chambers in Houston with an Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) in the background.NASA Over time, Peters has also shifted her self-perception. “I’m an anxious person and was made to feel self-conscious about that in the past, but that anxiety also makes me transparent about what I’m doing and where the gaps in my knowledge are, which has earned praise from team leadership,” she said. Similarly, while Peters once saw her sensitivity as a weakness, she learned to appreciate her ability to empathize with and anticipate the needs of others. “That makes me a good mentor and leader,” she said.
Learning to filter feedback has been another important lesson. “Advice and criticism are both useful tools, but not all of the time,” she explained. “I found myself tightly holding on to all of the criticism I received. It was easier to determine which advice didn’t work for me.” When Peters stopped to ask herself if she would take advice from the same person who was critiquing her, it became easier to take their feedback “with a pinch of salt.”
Miranda Peters (center) with the SxEMU Chamber C testing team.NASA Peters applies these lessons learned as a design verification and test hardware lead within the Spacesuit and Crew Survival Systems Branch at Johnson Space Center in Houston. She currently supports tests of the Portable Life Support System (xPLSS) that will be integrated into the new spacesuits worn by astronauts on future missions to explore the lunar surface. She is responsible for assembling and disassembling test units, making hardware and software updates, and integrating the xPLSS with various components of the spacesuit, known as the xEMU.
Peters’ most recent prior position was assembly and integration engineer within the same branch. She had an opportunity to serve as the interim xPLSS hardware lead when a colleague went on leave for several months, and suddenly found herself managing a major project. “We got a lot done in a short amount of time without loss of procedural integrity, even when we encountered unexpected changes in schedule,” she said. “I also used this large amount of lab work as an opportunity to train new hires and interns in assembly processes.” When the colleague returned, Peters was promoted to the newly created role overseeing design verification and testing.
“I really love how universal spacesuits are in their ability to excite and draw wonder from across the human spaceflight community and the general public,” she said. “Working on the xEMU project has affirmed for me that human surface mobility is the field that I want to make my career.” That realization inspired Peters to pursue a graduate degree in space architecture from the University of Houston, which she expects to complete in May 2026.
Miranda Peters (center) with members of the Portable Life Support System team during an assembly activity in 2021.Miranda Peters Peters looks forward to a future where NASA’s astronaut classes include individuals with different abilities. She encourages agency leaders, contractors, and others to have open conversations about workplace accommodations early in their hiring and performance review processes. “I think if we provide the opportunity to talk about accommodations and how to request them, employees would be more empowered to ask for what they need to be successful,” she said. Educating managers about available accommodations and allocating resources to expand the accessibility of those accommodations would also be helpful.
Peters hopes to pass that feeling of empowerment on to the Artemis Generation. “Empowerment to be themselves, to do the hard things, and to not limit themselves,” she said. “We need to take advantage of all the opportunities we can, and not let the fear of failure or not being ‘good enough’ stop us from going where we want to.”
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