NASA has released the first image captured by its Europa Clipper spacecraft, currently on a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa. The image, taken in early December, features a starfield containing stars located between 150 to 300 light-years away. These stars serve as reference points for the mission team to determine the spacecraft's orientation in space.
The star tracker cameras on Europa Clipper were successfully checked out by NASA, with the agency releasing the image to demonstrate the hardware's successful launch and deployment. The image showcases four bright stars: Gienah, Algorab, Kraz, and Alchiba.
Europa Clipper is equipped with nine instruments, including cameras that will capture images of Europa's surface features and instruments to analyze the composition of its subsurface ocean. The spacecraft is currently over 85 million kilometers from Earth and traveling at 27 kilometers per second relative to the Sun. At 30 meters with its solar panels deployed, it is NASA's largest probe ever built.
After a gravity assist maneuver near Mars on March 1, Europa Clipper is expected to enter Jupiter's orbit in April 2030. The mission's primary objective is to investigate Europa's potential for harboring life, given its suspected subsurface ocean and conditions conducive to life.