Peel back Europa's ice shell to see the ocean, mantle, and core underneath - the facts panel names each layer and lists the real published depth ranges.
Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom, click a layer for facts, and slide Peel shell from 0 to 100 percent to cut through the ice, ocean, mantle, and core in order.
Europa Subsurface Ocean 3D Explorer
Peel back Jupiter's moon Europa layer by layer to see the ice shell, the ocean underneath, the rocky mantle, and the metallic core.
Drag to orbit the view, scroll or pinch to zoom, and slide Peel shell from 0 to 100 percent to cut through each layer in order - ice shell first, then ocean, then mantle, then core. Click any exposed layer for its facts, or jump straight to a layer with the four quick buttons.
The facts panel lists the real published depth ranges: an ice shell about 15-25 km thick over a liquid-water ocean about 60-150 km deep, an ocean believed to hold roughly twice the water of all of Earth's oceans combined.
- Peel shell slider cuts a wedge through the ice, ocean, mantle, and core, layer by layer
- Ice shell, Ocean, Mantle, and Core quick buttons jump straight to a layer
- Clipper flyby tracks toggle shows six illustrative ground-track arcs on the ice shell
- Real published figures in the panel; on-screen layer thickness is exaggerated and disclosed
- Runs fully in the browser with the vendored three.js engine - no account, no upload
Students use the peel slider to see why an icy moon can hide a global ocean, and readers curious about NASA's Europa Clipper mission click the flyby-tracks toggle to see how a spacecraft samples a world it cannot land on.
| Quantity | Published value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Europa radius | 1,560.8 km | NASA JPL Europa Clipper science pages |
| Ice shell thickness | about 15-25 km | NASA JPL, Galileo magnetometer data |
| Ocean depth | about 60-150 km | NASA JPL, gravity and tidal modeling |
| Ocean water volume | roughly 2x all of Earth's oceans | NASA JPL Europa Clipper science pages |
| Europa Clipper mission | launched October 2024, Jupiter arrival 2030, about 49 planned flybys | NASA JPL Europa Clipper mission pages |
Everything renders on your device with WebGL. The 3D engine loads once (about 0.7 MB) and is cached; no scene data is sent to a server.
The scene is an educational visualization tuned to teach the interior layer order - it does not compute a geophysical model of Europa's interior. Layer thicknesses on screen are exaggerated so the ice shell and ocean stay visible; at true scale they are under 2 percent of Europa's radius.
For a step-by-step walkthrough, read the Europa Subsurface Ocean 3D Explorer step-by-step guide, or see when to use it. The Space 3D collection also includes a Galilean Moons Explorer and an Enceladus Geysers Explorer for other icy moons.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Europa Subsurface Ocean 3D Explorer show?
It peels back Jupiter's moon Europa layer by layer - ice shell, ocean, rocky mantle, and metallic core - so you can see what published planetary science places underneath the ice.
How thick is Europa's ice shell and ocean?
NASA JPL estimates the ice shell at about 15-25 km thick over a liquid-water ocean about 60-150 km deep, believed to hold roughly twice the water of all of Earth's oceans combined.
Are the layer thicknesses shown to scale?
No. On-screen layer thicknesses are exaggerated so the ice shell and ocean stay visible - at true scale they are under 2 percent of Europa's radius. The facts panel carries the real published ranges.
Is this a physical simulation of Europa's interior?
No. It is an educational visualization tuned to teach the layer order - it does not compute a geophysical model of density, pressure, or heat flow.
What are the Clipper flyby tracks?
Six illustrative ground-track arcs on the ice shell, toggled on with the Clipper flyby tracks checkbox. They are schematic, not NASA's real mission-planned flyby paths.
How do I cut through to the core?
Slide Peel shell toward 100 percent, or press the Ice shell, Ocean, Mantle, and Core buttons to jump straight to that layer's cutaway.