---
title: "Europa: facts, distance and size – Krillion Space"
description: "Europa is one of Jupiter's four large moons, covered by a shell of water ice. Its size, distance, place on the route and sourced facts."
url: https://krilion.app/atlas/europa
language: en-US
---

# Europa

Ice moon. Depth 6 on the Krillion Space voyage, in the Outer Sol.

Europa is one of Jupiter's four large moons, covered by a shell of water ice. Beneath that shell lies a salty ocean thought to hold about twice as much water as all of Earth's oceans, making it one of the most promising places to look for life beyond Earth.

![Europa at depth 6 in Krillion Space, painted by the game (an illustration, not a photograph).](https://krilion.app/assets/atlas/europa.webp)

## Fact sheet

- **Type:** Icy Galilean moon
- **Moon of:** Jupiter
- **Distance:** About 671,000 km (417,000 miles) from Jupiter; Jupiter orbits about 778 million km (5.2 AU) from the Sun
- **Size:** Diameter about 3,122 km (1,940 miles), about 90 percent of Earth's Moon
- **Discovered:** Discovered 1610 by Galileo Galilei
- **On the voyage:** Depth 6, in the Outer Sol section of the route, between Io and Saturn

## Things to know

- Scientists estimate Europa's ice shell is about 15 to 25 km (10 to 15 miles) thick, sitting on an ocean about 60 to 150 km (40 to 100 miles) deep. ([NASA](https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/jupiter-moons/europa/europa-facts/))
- Europa orbits Jupiter about every 3.5 days, and it is locked in a rhythm with Io and Ganymede: Io makes four orbits and Europa two for each orbit of Ganymede. ([NASA](https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/jupiter-moons/europa/europa-facts/))
- Its surface is thought to be only about 40 to 90 million years old, very young compared with the billions of years of neighboring Callisto. ([NASA](https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/jupiter-moons/europa/europa-facts/))
- In 2019 a NASA-led team using the Keck Observatory detected water vapor above Europa's surface for the first time. ([NASA](https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/jupiter-moons/europa/europa-facts/))
- Europa's icy surface reflects about 5.5 times as much sunlight as Earth's Moon. ([NASA](https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/jupiter-moons/europa/europa-facts/))

## Missions

Voyager 1 and 2 flew past in 1979, Galileo made 12 close flybys between 1995 and 2003, and Juno flew by in 2022; NASA's Europa Clipper launched in 2024 and is due at Jupiter in 2030, with ESA's Juice arriving in 2031.

## Sources

- [NASA – Europa: Facts](https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/jupiter-moons/europa/europa-facts/)
- [NASA – Europa](https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/jupiter-moons/europa/)
- [NASA NSSDC – Jovian Satellite Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/joviansatfact.html)
- [NASA – Jupiter Moons](https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/jupiter-moons/)

## On the route

- Previous landmark: [Io](https://krilion.app/atlas/io)
- Next landmark: [Saturn](https://krilion.app/atlas/saturn)
- [The whole Star Atlas](https://krilion.app/atlas)
- [Fly the voyage yourself](https://krilion.app/d/): every right answer warps your ship one stop deeper.