NASA braces to launch spacecraft to one of Jupiter's moons ‘Europa’

(MENAFN) NASA is gearing up to launch a spacecraft to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, which is considered a prime candidate in the search for life within our solar system. The mission aims to investigate whether this ice-covered moon, believed to harbor a vast ocean beneath its surface, has the potential to support life, according to a UK news agency.

The Europa Clipper spacecraft, which runs on solar power, will be launched aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. It will carry nine scientific instruments designed to gather crucial data. After a journey of 2.9 billion kilometers, which will take about five and a half years, the spacecraft is set to enter Jupiter’s orbit in 2030.

The launch was initially postponed due to Hurricane Milton, but NASA has tentatively rescheduled it for 1606 GMT on Monday. Scientists are particularly intrigued by Europa’s subsurface salty ocean, which previous studies suggest lies beneath the moon’s icy crust. Bonnie Buratti, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and deputy chief scientist for the mission, noted there is strong evidence that Europa has the key ingredients necessary for life, but emphasized the need for the mission to confirm these conditions.

While the mission’s primary goal isn't to discover life, its purpose is to assess whether Europa has the right environment to support it. The Europa Clipper, the largest spacecraft NASA has ever built for planetary exploration, measures 30.5 meters in length and 17.6 meters in width, weighing nearly 6,000 kilograms. Its main objectives are to measure the thickness of Europa’s icy shell, study its composition, and analyze its geological features.

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