NASA has obligated $2,967,636,551.98 to date under a task order with the California Institute of Technology for work on the Europa Clipper mission, according to federal spending records. The task order, award ID 80NM0018F0615, was issued by NASA's Management Office under parent indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract 80NM0018D0004, and covers a period of performance from October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2028. The award's base-and-all-options value is listed at $3,889,273,743.00, meaning the current obligated total represents cumulative funding placed against the task order rather than its full potential ceiling.

The contract vehicle reflects NASA's long-standing sponsoring agreement with Caltech to operate the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC). Under this model, JPL performs mission formulation, engineering and operations work for NASA through task orders rather than conventional competitive contracts — an arrangement practitioners in the space and GovCon sectors track closely given the scale of NASA's FFRDC spending and its role as a bellwether for planetary science program funding.

The task order funds work on Europa Clipper, a NASA mission to Jupiter's moon Europa aimed at determining whether the moon currently has conditions capable of supporting life, including investigation of a suspected subsurface saltwater ocean beneath its icy crust. Europa Clipper, built and assembled by JPL, launched October 14, 2024, and is expected to reach Jupiter's Europa in April 2030, where it will conduct dozens of close flybys using its suite of science instruments.

Source: USAspending.gov