‘In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa’

The lower half of Europa Clipper's vault plate, showing the poem by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón (lower right), a drawing representing the Jovian system that will host the names of 2.6 million people flying with mission on a microchip (top right), a tribute to planetary scientist Ron Greeley (bottom left), and the radio emission lines known a the 'Water Hole' (center). Image credit: NASA

Along with the science instruments and hardware needed for NASA's Europa Clipper's long journey to the Jovian system, the spacecraft also continues the long legacy of NASA spacecraft carrying inspirational messages from Earth, including the Pioneer Plaque, the Voyager Golden Record, and engravings carried aboard NASA's Mars rovers.

The original poem "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa," written by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, is engraved on Europa Clipper's vault plate in her own handwriting. The poem connects the two water worlds - Earth, yearning to reach out and understand what makes a world habitable, and Europa, waiting with secrets yet to be explored.

Limón, Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress since 2022, wrote the poem as part of her laureateship and debuted it on June 1, 2023, to kick off the NASA Message in a Bottle campaign, which invited people around the world to sign their names to the poem.

Over 2.6 million people submitted their names to be stenciled on a microchip that will travel to Europa alongside the poem. The campaign was a special collaboration, uniting art and science, by NASA, the U.S. Poet Laureate, and the Library of Congress.

Limón's poem and the names of more than 2.6 million participants etched onto microchips mounted on the spacecraft will soon travel together on Europa Clipper's 1.8-billion-mile voyage to the Jupiter system.

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