NASA's Europa Clipper Probe Aims to Explore Jupiter’s Icy Moon
NASA launched the Europa Clipper spacecraft to explore the potential habitability of Jupiter's moon Europa. The spacecraft aims to study Europa's ice-covered ocean and will conduct close flybys, surviving intense radiation from Jupiter's magnetic field. Launching from Florida, it will journey to Jupiter by 2030 using a complex trajectory past Mars and Earth.
NASA has launched the Europa Clipper spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, embarking on a mission to determine if conditions on Jupiter's moon Europa can support life.
Launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the probe will orbit Jupiter by 2030 after a 5.5-year, 1.8 billion-mile journey, delayed initially due to Hurricane Milton.
Measuring roughly 100 feet in length and weighing 13,000 pounds, this is NASA’s largest planetary mission spacecraft.
Europa, a moon of about 1,940 miles in diameter and covered by a thick ice shell, is believed to have a subsurface ocean potentially twice the size of Earth’s.
This mission, however, does not aim to find living organisms but will focus on analyzing the ocean, ice layer, and possible water vapor plumes.
Europa Clipper will perform 49 close flybys over three years, facing intense radiation from Jupiter's strong magnetic field.
A specialized vault protects the spacecraft's electronics.
The mission also includes gravitational slingshot maneuvers around Mars and Earth to conserve energy.