Europa Lander Mission Concept (Artist's Rendering)

This artist's rendering illustrates a conceptual design for a potential future mission to land a robotic probe on the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa.

The lander is shown with a sampling arm extended, having previously excavated a small area on the surface.

The circular dish on top is a dual-purpose high-gain antenna and camera mast, with stereo imaging cameras mounted on the back of the antenna.

Three vertical shapes located around the top center of the lander are attachment points for cables that would lower the rover from a sky crane, which is envisioned as the landing system for this mission concept.

An alternate version of this artwork, with a vertical orientation, is also available (see Figure 1).