A suitcase-sized ultraviolet instrument aboard NASA’s Europa Clipper has begun its cosmic watch—capturing its first UV light in space and setting the stage for a mission that may rewrite our understanding of habitability beyond Earth.
Key Points at a Glance
- Europa-UVS has successfully collected its first ultraviolet data after launch
- The instrument will analyze Europa’s atmosphere and hunt for water plumes
- SwRI designed Europa-UVS to survive Jupiter’s harsh radiation environment
- The instrument will study gases and surface materials once in the Jovian system
NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, launched in October 2024, is still half a decade from reaching Jupiter. But already, it’s begun peering into the universe. Scientists at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) have confirmed that the Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Europa-UVS)—a compact but powerful instrument aboard the probe—has just collected its first ultraviolet data, marking a major milestone in the mission’s commissioning phase.
Europa-UVS is one of nine science instruments on board Europa Clipper, and its role is pivotal. This device captures ultraviolet (UV) light from space to analyze the composition of gases and surface materials on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa—one of the most promising places in our solar system to search for signs of life. Observations from previous missions suggest that beneath Europa’s ice-covered crust lies a vast ocean of liquid water. Europa-UVS may help determine if plumes of water erupt from this hidden ocean into space, carrying clues about its chemical makeup—and possibly, its biology.
The journey to this first UV light wasn’t smooth. The SwRI team, led by principal investigator Dr. Kurt Retherford, initially began the commissioning process in January 2025 at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). But wildfires in Southern California forced an unexpected evacuation, delaying activation of the instrument. It wasn’t until May that the team could safely open the UVS aperture and allow cosmic light to enter the system. The first observations focused on a patch of the sky, confirming the instrument’s excellent performance.
Weighing just over 19 kilograms and consuming less power than a household lightbulb, Europa-UVS is a marvel of compact engineering. Despite its modest size, it carries the sophistication needed to map elemental and molecular concentrations in Europa’s thin atmosphere and analyze potential jets of vapor emerging from the moon’s surface.
This isn’t SwRI’s first foray into ultraviolet space instruments. The institute has a legacy of designing UV spectrographs for flagship missions, from ESA’s Rosetta to NASA’s Juno and New Horizons. Each generation has refined the engineering, especially for enduring the intense radiation belts surrounding Jupiter. Europa-UVS benefits directly from the team’s experience with the Juno-UVS, which launched in 2011 and still operates in orbit around Jupiter.
Matthew Freeman, project manager for Europa-UVS, highlighted how iterative design has led to exponential improvements. “Each successive instrument we build is more capable than its predecessor,” he said, noting the UVS’s unique ability to function in one of the most punishing radiation environments in the solar system.
The scientific payoff could be enormous. Once in the Jovian system, Europa-UVS will conduct atmospheric studies, searching for hydrogen, oxygen, and other elements that could hint at chemical processes similar to those that sustain life on Earth. Just as compelling is its role in the hunt for plumes. These vapor eruptions, if they exist, offer a rare opportunity to sample Europa’s subsurface ocean without drilling through kilometers of ice.
“Europa-UVS will hunt down potential plumes spouting from Europa’s icy surface and study them to understand what they tell us about the nature of subsurface water reservoirs,” said Dr. Thomas Greathouse, co-deputy PI of the instrument. The chance to sniff out these cosmic geysers could provide direct insight into whether Europa harbors the ingredients necessary for life.
Europa Clipper is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and includes partnerships with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. But it’s SwRI’s UVS that may end up being the mission’s quiet star—silently scanning for the faint ultraviolet fingerprints that could crack the mystery of life beneath Europa’s crust.
While it will take until 2030 for the spacecraft to reach its destination, the successful early performance of Europa-UVS is a promising signal that we’re one step closer to answering one of humanity’s biggest questions: Are we alone?
Source: Southwest Research Institute
