A NASA spacecraft embarked on a mission on Monday to explore Jupiter’s intriguing moon, Europa, in hopes of uncovering whether its vast hidden ocean might offer clues to the existence of life.
Europa Clipper will take 5 1/2 years to reach Jupiter, where it will enter orbit around the gas giant and conduct dozens of flybys of Europa, braving intense radiation.
Scientists are confident that a deep global ocean lies beneath Europa’s icy shell. With water often considered a key to life, Europa is regarded as one of the most promising places in the search for extraterrestrial life.
The Europa Clipper isn’t designed to detect life directly. Instead, it will focus on identifying the building blocks essential for life, such as organic compounds, and look beneath the ice for conditions that could support life.
Ocean worlds like Europa are particularly exciting, not just because they may have been habitable in the past, but because they might still be so today, said NASA’s Gina DiBraccio before the launch.
SpaceX launched the Clipper on its 1.8 million-mile journey using a Falcon Heavy rocket from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.
The $5.2 billion mission faced a potential setback due to concerns about the spacecraft’s transistors.
NASA discovered earlier this year that Clipper’s transistors might be more vulnerable to Jupiter’s severe radiation than expected. Europa Clipper will endure radiation levels equivalent to millions of chest X-rays during each of its 49 flybys of Europa. After months of review, NASA gave the green light in September, confirming the mission could continue as planned.
Magazine
info@luminarytimes.com
+1-8308642693
