For years, Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter, has been considered a potential location for extraterrestrial life due to its underground ocean. NASA is set to launch the Europa Clipper mission, the largest spacecraft ever built for a planetary science mission. The launch was delayed due to Hurricane Milton but is now scheduled for Monday. The mission aims to study Europa’s composition, internal structure, and geology to determine if it has the necessary conditions to support life. The moon is believed to have a vast ocean beneath its icy surface, with twice the volume of all Earth’s oceans combined. Europa Clipper will orbit Jupiter and conduct 49 close flybys of Europa over four years to gather new insights. Despite facing powerful radiation from Jupiter, the spacecraft has been designed to withstand it and conduct its observations effectively. The team behind the mission has been working on this project for over a decade, and for some, it has been a dream come true to study Europa. This will be NASA’s first dedicated mission to Europa and the agency’s first time studying an ocean world beyond Earth. The spacecraft is set to reach Jupiter in 2030 after a journey of 1.8 billion miles, with the potential to provide groundbreaking discoveries about this mysterious moon.
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NASA to send Europa Clipper spacecraft to explore icy moon of Jupiter
