Lander prototype at Matanuska Glacier, Alaska (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The Europa Lander was supposed to involve a voyage to the namesake moon of Jupiter. NASA, however, has left it unfunded for several years and the mission was effectively deprioritized by the 2023-2032 Planetary Science Decadal Survey, leaving it essentially mothballed. The craft’s fate leave the space agency and its partners to decide whether a decade’s worth of hardware and software can pivot to Saturn’s Enceladus or be shelved. Enceladus, which also has a subsurface ocean, is one of the more promising candidates in the solar system in the search for extraterrestrial life given its potential to have a liquid water ocean beneath its icy crust.
Congress had earmarked $195 million in fiscal 2019 to mature Europa‑lander technologies and keep key teams together. NASA’s inspector‑general later warned that the money would carry the study only through 2020 unless a full mission was confirmed. That step never came. By the watchdog’s count, cumulative Europa appropriations had already topped $2 billion, including work on the related Clipper fly‑by craft. By March 2022, NASA increased the mission’s budget from $4.25 billion to $5 billion.
Hard‑won hardware waiting for a ride
A number of R&D technologies were developed for Europa. For instance, Engineers wrote decision‑making code that can run for half of Europa’s 85‑hour orbit without talking to Earth. Then there is Stone Aerospace’s VALKYRIE cryobot, which burned through tens of meters of Alaskan ice during NASA field tests, retiring thermal, power and communications risks.
Separately, the a href=”https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/teaching-doglike-robots-walk-moons-dusty-icy-surface” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>LASSIE project project (a NASA-funded autonomy testbed not part of the Europa Lander program) has been putting dog‑like robots through glacier trials to refine footing algorithms on loose snow and glare ice.
Kevin Hand, Europa‑lander project scientist, summed up the stakes before the pause:
The radiation that bombards Europa’s surface leaves a fingerprint. If we know what that fingerprint looks like, we can better understand the nature of any organics and possible biosignatures that might be detected with future missions.
Research Infrastructure and Future Missions
What happens to projects like the Europa lander when things don’t go as planned?
1. Pivot to alternative missions
The primary path forward is adapting the technology for similar missions. The 2023–2032 Planetary Science Decadal Survey recommended adapting the Europa Lander concepts for an Enceladus Orbilander, a flagship mission to Saturn’s moon that would launch in the late 2030s and land in the early 2050s to search for evidence of life.
2. Hardware and knowledge are archived
If no immediate alternative mission is available, NASA’s “knowledge capture” process ensures that detailed schematics, test results, and computer models are stored for future use. This preserves the technical groundwork for decades, though restarting can be challenging as manufacturing tools may be dismantled and expert personnel move on.
3. R&D continues through smaller programs
Momentum for key technologies is maintained through:
- NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards
- Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) programs
- Funding to maintain key teams (Congress provided $195 million in 2019)
4. Promising technologies await future opportunities
Successfully tested hardware remains valuable for future missions:
- VALKYRIE Cryobot: Stone Aerospace’s laser-powered robot that melted through tens of meters of Alaskan glacier ice
- Autonomous Operations: Decision-making software designed to operate for long periods without Earth contact
- Related Projects: Technologies like NASA’s LASSIE project (though separately funded) advance relevant capabilities for icy surface navigation
The Europa Lander program has contributed to significant research momentum, with multiple Phase II SBIR awards supporting technologies such as radiation-hardened memory, cryogenic actuators, and autonomous drilling systems.
The 2022 planetary decadal survey offered a potential path forward by recommending the lander concept be adapted for an “orbilander” mission to Saturn’s moon Enceladus, with the second-highest priority for new flagship missions after the Uranus Orbiter and Probe. The Enceladus Orbilander could launch in the late 2030s and land in the early 2050s. This shift could preserve much of the technological investment while targeting a moon with lower radiation levels and potentially more accessible subsurface ocean access through its active geysers.
The European Space Agency’s Juice mission is another highlighting potential of deep-space exploration. When Juice’s ice-penetrating radar boom became stuck after launch as a result of a millimeter-scale pin that blocked deployment, international teams worked for weeks to resolve the glitch through thermal cycling and shock maneuvers, ultimately keeping the mission on schedule.
