This artist’s rendering shows NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, which is being developed for a launch sometime in the 2020s. This view shows the spacecraft configuration, which could change before launch, as of early 2016. The mission would place a spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter in order to perform a detailed investigation of the giant planet’s moon Europa — a world that shows strong evidence for an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy crust and which could host conditions favorable for life. The highly capable, radiation-tolerant spacecraft would enter into a long, looping orbit around Jupiter to perform repeated close flybys of Europa. – NASA

Related channels: EUROPA (JUPITER MOON)WATER, ASTROBIOLOGYJUPITER, GANYMEDE (JUPITER MOON), IO (JUPITER MOON), CALLISTO (JUPITER MOON), JUNO (SPACECRAFT)