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This side of a commemorative plaque mounted on NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft features American Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s handwritten “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa.” A silicone microchip will be placed with the names submitted by the public. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
When it launches in October, the agency’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will carry a richly layered dispatch that includes more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public.
Following on POTContinuing the historic tradition of sending inspiring messages into space, the agency has special plans for the Europa Clipper, which will launch toward Jupiter’s moon Europa later this year. The moon shows strong evidence of an ocean beneath its icy crust, with more than twice the amount of water of all of Earth’s oceans combined. A triangular metal plate on the spacecraft will honor that connection to Earth in several ways.
At the heart of the artifact is a handwritten engraving by American poet laureate Ada Limón.In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europe”, along with a silicon microchip stamped with more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public. The microchip will be the centerpiece of an illustration of a bottle in the middle of the Jovian system, a reference to NASA’s “Message in a Bottle” campaign, which invited the public to submit their names with the spacecraft.
A ‘golden record’ for Europe
Made of metal tantalum and measuring approximately 7 by 11 inches (18 by 28 centimeters), the plate features graphic elements on both sides. The outward-facing panel features art highlighting Earth’s connection to Europe. Linguists collected recordings of the word “water” spoken in 103 languages, from language families around the world. The audio files were converted into waveforms (visual representations of sound waves) and recorded on the board. The waveforms radiate from a symbol representing the American Sign Language sign for “water.”
The art on this side of the plaque, which will seal a vault opening on NASA’s Europa Clipper, features waveforms that are visual representations of the sound waves formed by the word “water” in 103 languages. In the center is a symbol that represents the American Sign Language sign for “water.” Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
To hear audio of the languages spoken and view the sign, go to: go.nasa.gov/MakeWaves.
In the spirit of the Voyager spacecraft Golden discTransmitting sounds and images to convey the richness and diversity of life on Earth, the layered message in Europa Clipper aims to spark the imagination and offer a unifying vision.
“The content and design of the Europa Clipper vault plaque are full of meaning,” said Lori Glaze, director of the Planetary Sciences Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The board combines the best that humanity has to offer across the universe: science, technology, education, art and mathematics. “The message of connection through water, essential to all life as we know it, perfectly illustrates Earth’s bond with this mysterious ocean world we set out to explore.”
Reaching the Cosmos
In 2030, after a journey of 2.6 billion kilometers (1.6 billion miles), Europa Clipper will begin orbit Jupiter, carrying out 49 close flyovers of Europe. To determine if conditions exist that can support life, the spacecraft’s powerful array of sensors Scientific instruments It will collect data on the moon’s underground ocean, icy crust, thin atmosphere, and space environment. The electronics for those instruments are housed in a huge metal dome designed to protect them from Jupiter’s devastating radiation. The commemorative plaque will seal an opening in the vault.
Learn more about how the Europa Clipper vault plate engravings were designed and the inspiration for the plate’s multi-layered message. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltec
Since the search for habitable conditions is fundamental to the mission, the Drake equation It is also engraved on the plate, on the side facing inward. Astronomer Frank Drake developed the mathematical formulation in 1961 to estimate the possibility of finding advanced civilizations beyond Earth. Since then, the equation has inspired and guided research in astrobiology and related fields.
Additionally, the artwork on the inner side of the plaque will include a reference to radio frequencies considered plausible for interstellar communication, symbolizing how humanity uses this radio band to hear messages from the cosmos. These particular frequencies coincide with the radio waves emitted into space by the components of water and are known to astronomers as the “water hole.” On the plate they are represented as radio emission lines.
Finally, the plaque includes a portrait of one of the founders of planetary science, Ron Greeley, whose early efforts to develop a mission to Europa two decades ago laid the foundation for the Europa Clipper.
“We’ve put a lot of thought and inspiration into the design of this board, as well as into this mission itself,” says project scientist Robert Pappalardo of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “It’s been a decades-long journey and we can’t wait to see what Europa Clipper shows us in this aquatic world.”
Once Europa Clipper assembly is complete at JPL, the spacecraft will be sent to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for its launch in October.
More about the mission
Europa Clipper’s main scientific goal is to determine if there are places beneath Europa, Jupiter’s icy moon, that could support life. The three main scientific objectives of the mission are to determine the thickness of the Moon’s icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, investigate its composition, and characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential of habitable worlds beyond our planet.