JPL-20240311-CLIPPRf-0001-NASA Unveils Design for Message Heading to Jupiters Moon Europa

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 in NASA’s storied tradition of sending inspirational messages into space, the agency has special plans for Europa Clipper, which later this year will launch toward Jupiter’s moon Europa. The moon shows strong evidence of an ocean under 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 an engraving of U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s handwritten “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa,” along with a silicon microchip stenciled with more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public. The microchip will be the centerpiece of an illustration of a bottle amid the Jovian system – a reference to NASA’s “Message in a Bottle” campaign, which invited the public to send their names with the spacecraft.

What is said in the film

Three two one. Engine ignition. There's a legacy of NASA spacecraft carrying inspirational messages from Earth, going back to the Pioneer Plaque and the Voyager Golden Record. Now, Europa Clipper, a new mission from one ocean world to another will continue this tradition. Because water connects our planet and Jupiter's moon Europa, all life as we know it, and all human cultures a part of the spacecraft has been engraved with designs inspired by water and human connections.

This metal plate is part of a structure that will protect the spacecraft's electronics from the threat of Jupiter’s radiation. On one side of the plate is a design we call “Water Words. ” These rippling lines represent recordings of the word for “water” in a diverse collection of human languages. The other side of the plate is a montage of elements that complete our message in a bottle. At the top is the Drake Equation a tribute to the visionary idea that the probability of finding life in the cosmos is something we can estimate.

Next, these two lines represent radio frequencies emitted in space by molecules related to water, which have been considered an ideal place to search for interstellar communications, as suggested by some researchers. They represent our ability to use the language of science to search for signs of life. Next is a portrait of one of the founders of planetary science, Dr. Ron Greeley whose early efforts to develop a Europa mission laid the foundation for Europa Clipper. At the heart of this message in a bottle is a poem in the handwriting of U.

S. Poet Laureate, Ada Limón The poem connects the two water worlds. Earth, yearning to reach out and understand what makes a world habitable and Europa, waiting with secrets yet to be explored. Finally, the bottle orbited by the four largest moons of Jupiter to which will be attached a microchip etched with more than 2. 6 million names of those who signed on in the spirit of the poem as our message is sent on its voyage to Europa.

As technically advanced as the spacecraft is, every part of it is made by people. And all of the markings on the plate are either handwritten hand drawn, or represent human voices and names. Because exploration “Lift off” is something we do together, something that connects us all as we head out into the cosmic sea.

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