Nasa on Monday launched spacecraft Europa Clipper from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, US, to explore the possibility of life on Jupiter’s moon Europa. The spacecraft took off on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket under clear skies.
The$ 5.2 billion mission aims to explore whether Europa’s subsurface ocean, which lies beneath an ice shell over 10 miles thick, could be habitable. It is Nasa’s primary objective dedicated to addressing this issue.
Sandra Connelly, assistant associate superintendent for Nasa’s scientific vision department, said,” Scientists believe Europa has conditions—water, power, chemical, and stability—beneath its icy surface that could help life”.
Delivering a spacecraft hard enough to endure the pummeling of radiation from Jupiter and even delicate enough to collect the measurements needed to study Europa’s environment is one of the Europa Clipper mission’s primary challenges, Connelly said.
Nasa’s associate superintendent, Jim Free, said that the vision does not hunt for real life animals. What we discover on Europa may have significant effects on science and how we interpret our place in the universe, Free said.
Weighing around 12, 500 weight, the Europa Clipper aircraft is equipped with nine devices to examine Europa’s sea level, area substances, and magnetic field. It is Nasa’s largest celestial quest, measuring about 100 feet long and 58 feet broad.
The aircraft will use magnetic aids from Mars-Mars transits in February and December 2026. It is expected to enter Jupiter’s orbit in April 2030 after traveling about 1.8 billion yards over 5-1/2 centuries and will do 49 flybys of Europa over a four-year time in a very radioactive surroundings.
Last month, Nasa had planned to launch Europa Clipper, but it was postponed due to Hurricane Milton.
Europa, the fourth-largest of Jupiter’s 95 recognized moon, is believed to possess twice as much water as Earth’s sea. It joins another celestial body like Callisto, Ganymede, and Enceladus that are thought to bay buried sea.
The objective will determine whether Europa has the necessary elements to help life—water, power, and carbon-based molecules. Various instruments will examine the moon’s atmosphere and potential liquid vapor plumes, while its radar can identify subsurface lakes and cryovolcanoes.
Planning for this goal began in 1995, said Tom McCord, a top scholar on the goal. The goal may open the door for potential ocean world exploration despite concerns about the volcanic activity and energy sources in Europe.
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