NASA spacecraft is on its way to Jupiter's Europa moon Europa to find out if it could support Life

 

A spacecraft that will study one of Jupiter’s moons launched Monday on a journey of more than six years to discover if the moon has the ability to support life.

The solar-powered spacecraft Europa Clipper ascended above clear skies through Earth’s atmosphere on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

It is expected to reach Jupiter in April 2030 to study Europa, the icy-surfaced moon, which is roughly the size of Earth’s moon and thought to have “ingredients for life,” such as water, NASA says.

“Europa could have all the ingredients for life as we know it,” NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free said on a media call on Sunday. “Water, organics, chemical energy and stability. What we discover at Europa will have profound implications for the study of astrobiology and how we view our place in the universe.”

 The spacecraft has three goals, according to the agency, which are to “determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology.” 

Europa Clipper will face a challenge once it reaches the planet’s moon — exposure to radiation, since the moon is within Jupiter’s magnetic field. To combat this, the spacecraft’s electronics will be enclosed in a thick vault lined with aluminum and titanium aimed as a shield against radiation.

Europa Clipper will spend less than a day in the radiation zone and then leave, repeating the process two to three weeks later, according to NASA.