Europa

Europa is ranked fourth by size of Jupiter's moons.[1] JPL's physical-parameter table gives Europa a mean radius of about 1,560.8 kilometres.[2]

History

Europa first received close-up views from Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft during Jupiter encounters.[1]

Findings

Europa is considered a promising place to investigate whether present-day environments could support life.[1] Six spacecraft have visited Europa; Hubble also observes it from afar.[1] USGS lists craters, lineae, and regions among the mapped feature classes on Europa.[3]

Current status

NASA launched Europa Clipper in October 2024 to investigate Europa.[1]

Sources

  1. Europa | NASA. Licence: facts-only (Track B), no text or images reused. Attribution: NASA.
  2. Planetary Satellite Physical Parameters | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Licence: facts-only (Track B), no text reused. Attribution: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
  3. Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Europa | USGS. Licence: US federal work, public domain (17 USC 105). Attribution: U.S. Geological Survey.

Evidence as of 2026-11-01.