KENNEDY SPACE CENTER: NASA’s Europa Clipper probe lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on Monday aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, embarking on a mission to explore Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa. The probe aims to determine whether Europa, with its subsurface ocean, could potentially support life.
The spacecraft will cover a 2.9 billion-kilometer (1.8 billion-mile) journey to reach Europa, one of Jupiter’s many moons, in April 2030. Scientists believe Europa holds a vast ocean beneath its icy crust, making it a prime candidate for discovering habitable conditions beyond Earth.
“We’re not searching for life on Europa, but we’re trying to see if this ocean world is habitable,” said NASA official Gina DiBraccio ahead of the launch. “That means we’re looking for water, energy sources, and the right chemistry.”
The Europa Clipper mission will focus on determining whether the three key ingredients for life—water, energy, and chemical compounds—are present on the moon. Scientists hope to discover whether Europa’s ocean holds the potential to support microbial life.
Curt Niebur, the Europa Clipper program scientist, explained, “It’s a chance for us to explore a world that might be habitable today, right now.”
The spacecraft is the largest interplanetary probe ever built by NASA. Its solar panels, when fully extended, span 30 meters (98 feet) to capture the faint sunlight that reaches Jupiter.
Equipped with a range of advanced instruments, including cameras, radar, and a magnetometer, the probe will conduct 49 close flybys of Europa, coming within 25 kilometers (16 miles) of its surface to study its structure and the interaction between the moon’s surface and subsurface ocean.
During the four-year mission, Europa Clipper will be subjected to intense radiation, comparable to millions of chest X-rays on each pass. However, the data collected could hold profound implications for understanding the habitability of moons and planets throughout the universe.
“If our solar system has two habitable worlds—Europa and Earth—imagine what that could mean for the billions of other solar systems in our galaxy,” said Niebur.
Running in tandem with NASA’s mission is the European Space Agency’s Juice probe, which is set to explore Jupiter’s other moons, Ganymede and Callisto.
