Family-level launch record combining canonical variants, historical missions, public cadence forecasts, and available payload performance specs.
Historical missions are grouped by actual launch year. Forecast cadence uses family-level launch-rate rows.
| Year | Historical missions | Forecast launches |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | 1 | 0 |
| 1969 | 1 | 0 |
| 1970 | 1 | 0 |
| 1971 | 1 | 0 |
Payload capacity by variant and target orbit when structured capacity rows are available.
| Variant | Orbit | Capacity | Altitude | Inclination | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No performance specsNo structured payload capacity rows are linked to this vehicle family. | |||||
Latest launched missions using variants in this family.
| Mission | Variant | Launch |
|---|---|---|
| Launch 1971-F10 | Europa II | Nov 5, 1971 |
| Launch 1970-U02 | Europa I | Jun 12, 1970 |
| Launch 1969-F09 | Europa I | Jul 2, 1969 |
| Launch 1968-F09 |
Canonical variants rolled up into this launch vehicle family.
| Variant | Stages | Missions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Europa I | Not stated | 3 | Retired |
Europa II | Not stated | 1 | Retired |
Europa I |
| Nov 29, 1968 |
Upcoming mission rows with announced launch timing.
| Mission | Variant | Announced |
|---|---|---|
No forecasted missionsNo upcoming announced mission rows are linked to this vehicle family. | ||
JUICE and Europa Clipper have planned complementary observations including planned flybys of Europa by the two spacecraft approximately four hours apart.
NASA’s Europa Clipper mission is slated to launch next year and is due to be inserted into Jupiter orbit in 2030 to investigate whether Europa has the ingredients necessary for life.
JUICE is equipped with 10 instruments, including cameras, an ice-penetrating radar, a radio-science experiment, and sensors for measuring altitude and other data to study magnetic fields and potentially ocean-bearing moons Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto.
NASA selected SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to launch the Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa.
GSC Europa detected an anomaly in the time determination function of the Galileo ground segment beginning on 2020-12-14 at 00:00 UTC.
The CJS spending bill provides no funding for a follow-on Europa lander mission despite directing a launch of such a mission by 2027.
The CJS spending bill directs NASA to include adequate funding for the Europa lander concept in its 2022 budget request for continued research and development.
There are launch opportunities in summer and fall 2024 for Europa Clipper, including an August 2024 window using the Space Launch System that would send the spacecraft directly to Europa.
The omnibus requires NASA to use the Space Launch System for a follow-on Europa lander mission in 2027 despite allocating no funding for that lander.
NASA's Inspector General Paul Martin indicated that an SLS will not be available to launch the Europa Clipper mission to Europa before 2025.
Congress provided $2.04 billion in funding for Europa missions from fiscal years 2013 through 2019.
NASA originally requested $785 million in funding for Europa missions during the same period.
The Europa Clipper spacecraft will orbit Jupiter and make close approaches to its moon Europa.
The purpose of the Europa Clipper mission is to determine if Europa is potentially habitable.
The $195,000,000 that the proposed Europa lander mission received in 2019 is sufficient to continue research and development work through 2020, according to the appropriations report.
The House bill called for a 2025 launch of a Europa lander mission but provided no funding for that mission.
Appropriators directed NASA to include adequate funding for continued research and development of the Jupiter Europa Lander in the fiscal year 2021 budget request.
Representative John Culberson (R-Texas), a prominent proponent of a Europa lander and former chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, lost reelection in November 2018.
The 2019 appropriations bill included $195,000,000 for work on a Europa lander and directed NASA to launch a lander by 2025.
NASA will use the funding appropriated in 2019 for Europa lander work to support early technology development and risk mitigation for a potential future Europa lander.