Following a delay caused by Hurricane Milton, NASA’s highly anticipated Europa Clipper mission is now to launch on Monday, with the goal of exploring Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, in the search for signs of extraterrestrial life.
The mission will take off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida at 12:05 PM ET (9:35 PM IST).
Initially set for 10 October, the mission’s launch postponed due to the hurricane.
SpaceX confirmed the new launch date, emphasizing the significance of the mission, stating, “The spacecraft will help scientists determine if Europa’s salty ocean harbours the ingredients for life.”
This launch marks the sixth and final mission for the first-stage boosters of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, which previously supported missions such as USSF-44, USSF-67, Hughes JUPITER 3, and NASA’s Psyche mission.
Europa Clipper Spacecraft
NASA has developed the Europa Clipper spacecraft, valued at $5 billion, making it the largest planetary mission ever. Once fully deployed, its solar arrays extend over 30 meters, and it weighs nearly 6,000 kilograms at launch.
The spacecraft has 24 engines and features a propulsion module measuring 3 meters in length and 1.5 meters in diameter.
The mission is likely to cover an astounding 2.6 billion kilometers over the course of its journey to Jupiter.
Europa Clipper is to arrive at its destination in 2030, but not before making a series of flybys. It will pass by Mars in February 2025 and Earth in December 2026, leveraging these planetary flybys for gravitational assists on its way to Jupiter.
Once in the Jupiter system, the spacecraft will conduct close to 50 flybys of Europa, where it will examine the moon’s ice-covered surface and its potential for harboring life.
Europa is thought to have a massive, subsurface ocean beneath its icy crust, making it one of the most promising locations in the solar system for the search for extraterrestrial life. The mission’s data is to significantly advance our understanding of the astrobiological potential of Europa and other icy moons.
Scientists estimate Europa’s ice shell to be between 2 and 30 kilometers thick, beneath which lies a vast ocean.
Previous missions, such as Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, Galileo, and Juno, have provided evidence of this ocean, but Europa Clipper will be the first to examine it in such detail.
NASA scientists are hopeful that Europa, with its salty ocean and potentially favorable conditions, may hold clues to the existence of life beyond Earth, potentially offering groundbreaking insights into the habitability of worlds outside our planet.
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