NASA successfully launched the Europa Clipper probe on Monday, October 16 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The $5.2 billion mission will explore Europeone of Jupiter’s moons considered among the most promising places in the Solar System to find extraterrestrial life.
The launch marks the beginning of a five and a half year journey towards Jupiter, where Europa Clipper will enter orbit to study Europa closely. This icy moon likely hides a global ocean of liquid water beneath its frozen crust, which could harbor conditions suitable for life.
“This is an epic mission,” said Curt Niebur, Europa Clipper program scientist at NASA. “It’s an opportunity to explore a world that could be habitable today, right now.”
Europa Clipper, weighing over 5.7 tonnes at launch, is the largest probe ever sent by NASA to explore another planetary body. It is also the most expensive planetary science mission in the agency’s history, with a budget about half that of the James Webb Space Telescope.
“We are not expecting fish or whales, but we are interested in understanding whether Europa could host simple life forms such as single-celled organisms”
Europa Clipper’s journey to Jupiter will cover 2.9 billion kilometers, taking advantage of the gravitational slingshots of Mars in 2025 and Earth in 2026. The probe will enter orbit around Jupiter on April 11, 2030, kicking off a series of 49 flybys of Europa.
“To be clear, we will not land on Europa. We will not make any landing attempts,” said Jordan Evans, project manager for the mission at NASA’s JPL. “We will get as close as 25 km from the surface, about 16 miles.”
Searching for alien life
Europa Clipper is equipped with nine sophisticated scientific instruments to study Europa in detail, from its tenuous atmosphere to its hidden ocean. The main objectives are:
- Determine whether Europa has the ingredients necessary for life
- Mapping the structure of the icy crust
- Look for eruptions of water from the surface
- Analyze the chemical composition of the ocean
- Measure the thickness of the ice layer
The probe will also look for signs of recent geological activity and potential landing sites for future missions. His cameras will be able to distinguish details up to 50 cm on the surface of Europa.
“Europa Clipper carries the most sophisticated suite of instruments we have ever sent into the outer solar system,” said Bob Pappalardo, project scientist at JPL. “It brings a radar that can penetrate ice like a CT scan to find liquid water, very high resolution images. We will be able to look for hot spots and plumes on Europa.”
An alien ocean to explore
Scientists estimate that the ocean of Europa may be between 60 and 80 miles deepcovered by a layer of ice 10-20 miles thick. Tidal forces generated by Jupiter could fuel hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, creating conditions potentially suitable for life.
“In these worlds, you have an ocean layer on top of a rock layer,” explained Cynthia Phillips, a planetary geologist at NASA. “This is important because this is what we have here on Earth, and at the bottom of Earth’s oceans, where the ocean layer touches the rock, all kinds of interesting chemical reactions and hydrothermal systems can occur.”
While Europa Clipper will not be able to directly search for signs of life, it will provide crucial data on Europa’s potential habitability. If it makes surprising discoveries, it could pave the way for a future landing mission to search for direct evidence of alien life.
Source: www.tomshw.it
