20 Jan 2009

An artist's impression of the EJSM concept. Credit: ESA/NASA

In 2007 NASA performed a series of studies for flagship missions, including among others, missions to Jupiter (the Jupiter System Observer) and its moon Europa (the Europa Explorer Mission).

From the early stages of the ESA study process, it was agreed with NASA that a joint mission to the Jupiter system should be studied. Joint Science Definition Teams (JSDTs) were formed with U.S. and European membership to guide study activities that were conducted collaboratively by engineering teams working on both sides of the Atlantic. This joint mission represents a merger of the mission proposals that were originally proposed, separately, to the two space agencies. The combined mission is currently referred to as the Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM).

The main results and the current baseline of the EJSM mission study are summarized in a joint report, describing all mission elements. This joint report is now publicly available and can be downloaded from this web site (see link in right-hand menu).