NASA unveils the plaque, a message from humanity, to adorn the Europa Clipper probe
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This side of a plaque mounted on NASA's Europa Clipper probe features the handwritten poem by Ada Limón "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa". It will be attached with a silicon chip engraved with names submitted by the public.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA announced that its Europa Clipper probe will carry a commemorative plaque engraved with more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public. This initiative is part of the space agency's tradition of sending inspiring messages into space, as was done with the Voyager probes' Golden Record.
On one side of this triangular metal plaque, there's a handwritten poetic work by Ada Limón, the US Poet Laureate, titled "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa", along with a silicon chip containing the names. The other side displays an artistic work depicting the connection between Earth and Europa, with recordings of the word "water" pronounced in 103 languages, transformed into visual waveform shapes, radiating around a symbol for water in American Sign Language.
The design of the plaque aims to illustrate the message of connection through water, essential for any form of life as we know it, thus highlighting our link with this oceanic world that is about to be explored. The primary objective of the Europa Clipper mission is to determine if areas beneath Europa's icy surface could harbor life. To accomplish this, it will study the thickness of the moon's icy crust, its interaction with the ocean below, its composition, and its geology.
The artistic work on this side of the plaque presents waveform shapes that are visual representations of the sound waves formed by the word "water" in 103 languages. At the center is a symbol representing the sign for water in American Sign Language.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
In 2030, after a journey of 1.6 billion miles (2.6 billion kilometers), Europa Clipper will enter orbit around Jupiter, conducting 49 close flybys of Europa. This detailed exploration will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential of habitable worlds.
Once the assembly of Europa Clipper is completed at JPL, the probe will be shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in preparation for its launch in October.