A 6000-kilogram spacecraft will embark on a six-year journey to Jupiter to explore whether its icy moon Europa has the conditions to support life
By Matthew Sparkes
14 October 2024
Illustration of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The largest spacecraft ever created by NASA for an interplanetary mission will launch today to determine whether Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, has an environment that could support life.
The Europa Clipper mission is expected to launch at 12:06 pm local time aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, having been delayed by several days as a precaution because of Hurricane Milton.
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Europa is the smallest of the so-called Galilean moons, which are Jupiter’s four largest moons. It is slightly smaller than our own moon and is of particular interest to scientists. Previous observations have indicated that Europa has a vast subsurface ocean, and this mission is designed to explore the possibility that life could reside within it.
With its solar arrays deployed, Europa Clipper spans more than 30 metres and weighs 3241 kilograms without propellant, which will add a further 2750 kilograms.
The spacecraft will take around six years to travel 2.9 billion kilometres to its rendezvous with Jupiter in April 2030, using the gravity of Mars and then Earth to boost its speed.