Project OCELOT

Project OCELOT (Orbital Campaign to Explore Europa’s Landing Opportunities and Terrain) is a robotic spacecraft designed to map the surface of Europa and identify promising landing sites for future exploration missions. The mission builds on concepts and lessons from Europa Clipper, JUICE, and Juno, but focuses specifically on establishing a detailed orbital survey of Europa’s terrain. The proposed mission begins in low Earth orbit, uses a Mars gravity assist to reduce the energy required for the journey to Jupiter, enters orbit around Europa, and then performs repeated measurements while changing orbital inclination to build coverage of the moon’s surface. The spacecraft uses hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide propulsion, four solar-panel arrays with batteries for power, reflector and horn antennas for communications, a laser altimeter and camera as its primary payload, and a combination of thrusters and reaction wheels for attitude control. The team developed the orbital mechanics and mission trajectory as well as the spacecraft’s major subsystems, with particular attention to the severe distance, duration, and environmental demands of a Europa mission. OCELOT is intended to provide the high-resolution terrain information needed to evaluate potential landing regions and support future missions searching for evidence of habitability or life on Europa.