NASA launches spacecraft to scour Jupiter moon Europa for ingredients for life

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Last Updated16/10/2024

A NASA spacecraft is ready to set sail for Jupiter and its moon Europa, one of the best bets for finding life beyond Earth.

NASA’s latest interplanetary mission, the Europa Clipper, is set to embark on a groundbreaking journey to Jupiter and its moon Europa, considered one of the most promising locations for discovering signs of life beyond Earth.
The spacecraft aims to probe beneath Europa’s icy crust, where an ocean is believed to exist, potentially harboring conditions suitable for life. Though it won't search for life directly, the mission seeks to assess whether the moon has the right ingredients to support life forms.

Europa, one of Jupiter's 95 moons, is nearly the size of Earth's moon and is encased in a thick ice sheet, estimated to be between 10 to 15 miles deep. Beneath this frozen surface, scientists hypothesize an ocean over 80 miles deep, making Europa a prime candidate in the search for life.
Discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei, Europa is part of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, along with Ganymede, Io, and Callisto. These moons have intrigued scientists for centuries, with Europa now standing out as a potential haven for life due to its subsurface ocean and suspected hydrothermal activity.

The Europa Clipper mission is set to determine whether conditions on Europa could support life. The spacecraft, equipped with nine science instruments, will fly as close as 16 miles to Europa's surface, providing unprecedented data on the moon’s geology and potential habitability. Key objectives include:

Penetrating the ice with radar to detect subsurface features.
Analyzing Europa's tenuous atmosphere for signs of water vapor and other compounds.
According to Curt Niebur, program scientist, Europa Clipper presents a unique opportunity to explore a world that may still be habitable, offering insight into the potential for life in present times, rather than a distant past.

Europa orbits through Jupiter’s intense radiation belts, posing a significant risk to spacecraft. To mitigate this, Clipper’s sensitive electronics are encased in a protective vault made of aluminum and zinc. While the radiation on Europa’s surface would be too harsh for life to exist there, it might break down water molecules and release oxygen into the ocean below, potentially sustaining microbial life.
Additionally, the spacecraft's massive solar panels, spanning over 100 feet, will generate the power needed for the mission, even in Jupiter's distant orbit. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles in total, with its journey taking 5 ½ years, arriving at Jupiter in 2030. Clipper will conduct 49 flybys of Europa before ending its mission with a crash into Ganymede, another moon of Jupiter.

Europa Clipper is part of a larger exploration effort to find ocean worlds in the solar system and beyond. Scientists believe that moons like Ganymede, Callisto, and Saturn's Enceladus and Titan may also harbor underground oceans. Although Clipper will not search directly for life, future missions may focus on detecting any microorganisms that might be present beneath Europa's ice.

In line with many space missions, the Europa Clipper carries messages from Earth. Among them is a triangular metal plate inscribed with the word "water" in 104 languages, a poem about the moon by US poet laureate Ada Limón, and a silicon chip containing the names of 2.6 million people, symbolizing humanity’s hopes and dreams for exploration beyond our planet.