Europa is covered in a shell of ice, criss-crossed with reddish cracks.
Beneath that ice is an ocean of salty water about 100 km deep. Scientists think it holds about twice as much water as all of Earth's oceans put together.
Water, warmth and the right chemicals are what life needs on Earth. That makes Europa one of the best places in the solar system to look for it.
NASA's Europa Clipper launched in October 2024 and reaches Jupiter in 2030. It will fly past Europa dozens of times, measuring the ice and the ocean below.
If you stood here
Ice in every direction, brightly lit by Jupiter, and about −160 °C. Below your boots, an ocean nobody has ever seen.
- Width
- 3,122 km
- Goes round Jupiter
- every 3.6 days
- One day
- The same: it always shows Jupiter one face
- Temperature
- about −160 °C at the equator
- 70 kg on Earth weighs
- 9 kg here
