NASA’s Europa Clipper mission has taken off from its launch pad in Florida. Launched by a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the probe begins a long journey to approach Jupiter.
It’s a long journey of 6 years that begins. This Monday, October 14, 2024, shortly after 6 p.m. (metropolitan French time), the Europa Clipper mission took off aboard a Falcon Heavy, the SpaceX rocket. The NASA probe begins his journey to reach the surroundings of Jupiter. Thanks to its observations of the Jovian system, Europa Clipper should make it possible to make progress on the question of extraterrestrial life, which so fascinates scientists and the general public.
Direction the moon Europe, a habitable ocean world
It is more precisely towards Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, that NASA will direct its new mission. Among Jupiter’s many moons, Europa is considered one of the most promising for searching for life. Europa is in any case considered habitable (not to be confused with inhabited), under its icy shell which would contain a vast ocean – or perhaps even in the icy shell itself. This ocean would contain more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined.
Europa Clipper therefore left for space this Monday evening, launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida in the United States, in order to begin an investigation into the conditions favorable to life near Jupiter. “ Europa Clipper’s main scientific goal is to determine if there are places beneath the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa that could support life », resume the Nasa. Europa Clipper is therefore not itself equipped to identify life on a star like Europa, if it indeed exists.
The departure of this mission to Jupiter had been delayed by a few days. Initially, Europa Clipper was scheduled to leave Florida on October 10. The weather conditions decided otherwise: Hurricane Milton was too severe in the launch area to take the risk of taking off the rocket.
When Europa Clipper finally approaches its target, around 2030, it is planned that the probe will carry out around fifty flybys of the Jovian moon. The measurements collected on these occasions could help scientists finally better understand the mysteries of habitability on Europa, or even in the rest of the solar system.
Source: www.numerama.com
