NASA Launch Life-Searching Spacecraft To Jupiter's Moon Europa
(MENAFN- AzerNews)
By Alimat Aliyeva
The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will
launch a spacecraft to Jupiter's moon Europa in October 2024 in
order to determine whether there are living conditions on it,
Azernews reports.
The launch of the Europa Clipper mission is scheduled for
October 10 from the Cape Canaveral Cosmodrome (Florida). A Falcon
Heavy launch vehicle from the American company SpaceX will be used
for the launch.
NASA stressed that the mission's objective is to "help
scientists determine whether one of Jupiter's ice-covered natural
moons can support life." It is expected that the device, equipped
with nine instruments and equipment for conducting experiments in
zero gravity, will be launched into Jupiter's orbit and will
approach Europe several times.
"Research data indicate that under the ice cover of Europe there
is an ocean twice the volume of all the oceans of the Earth," NASA
said in a statement.
Europa is one of the four largest moons of Jupiter, discovered
by Galileo Galilei back in the XVII century. Its surface is covered
with ice, under which there is a multi-kilometer ocean of liquid
water. Today, planetary scientists consider it one of the likely
centers of extraterrestrial life. This is supported by the fact
that this reservoir exchanges gases and minerals with ice on the
surface, and also contains hydrogen and some other substances that
can support the life of microbes.
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