spacetoday.net: NASA selects instruments for Europa mission

Posted: Wed, May 27, 2015, 11:24 AM ET (1524 GMT)
Europa Clipper spacecraft concept (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

NASA announced Tuesday it has selected nine instruments it plans to include on a planned mission to Jupiter's moon Europa in the 2020s. The nine instruments include camera, magnetometers, spectrometers, and an ice-penetrating radar. Combined, NASA hopes the suite of instruments will allow scientists to determine if Europa can support life, although not necessarily if it is inhabited today. The instruments will fly on a mission NASA is developing based on a concept called Europa Clipper, where the spacecraft makes dozens of close flybys of Europa while orbiting Jupiter. NASA says it plans to launch the mission some time in the 2020s, although a provision in an appropriations bills under consideration by the House would require NASA to launch the mission no later than 2022.