NASA's Europa Clipper blasts off, seeking an ocean
The ship is headed toward Jupiter on a yearslong journey
What happened
Europa Clipper, the largest extraplanetary spacecraft ever built by NASA, took off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center Monday atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, headed toward Jupiter. The spacecraft, which is the size of a basketball court with its solar wings unfurled, carries an array of nice specialized instruments to study an ocean believed to be buried 10 to 15 miles under the icy surface of Jupiter's moon Europa.
Who said what
Europa Clipper's historic mission "will tackle one of biology's core questions," The New York Times said: "Can life exist anywhere else in our solar system?" The spacecraft "won't look for life" directly, The Associated Press said. Instead its instruments — cameras, magnetometer, thermal imager and an ice-penetrating radar, among others — "will zero in on the ingredients necessary to sustain life," including organic compounds.
"We want to determine if Europa has the potential to support simple life in the deep ocean under its icy layer," said mission chief scientist Robert Pappalardo of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We don't expect fish and whales and that kind of thing." Europa isn't the only documented ocean world, but its ocean is most similar to Earth's, said program scientist Curt Niebur. "If Europa Clipper can show that in our one solar system there are two habitable worlds — Earth and Europa — that has profound implications for how common habitable worlds are in the galaxy."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What next?
Europa Clipper's 1.8 billion-mile journey is expected to take 5 1/2 years. It should enter Jupiter's orbit on April 11, 2030, before making 49 flybys of Europa over the next four years, coming within 16 miles of the moon's surface.
-
The best dark romance books to gingerly embrace right nowThe Week Recommends Steamy romances with a dark twist are gaining popularity with readers
-
The ocean is getting more acidic — and harming sharks’ teethUnder the Radar ‘There is a corrosion effect on sharks’ teeth,’ a study’s author said
-
6 exquisite homes for skiersFeature Featuring a Scandinavian-style retreat in Southern California and a Utah abode with a designated ski room
-
The ocean is getting more acidic — and harming sharks’ teeth
Under the Radar ‘There is a corrosion effect on sharks’ teeth,’ a study’s author said
-
Cows can use tools, scientists reportSpeed Read The discovery builds on Jane Goodall’s research from the 1960s
-
The Iberian Peninsula is rotating clockwiseUnder the radar We won’t feel it in our lifetime
-
NASA discovered ‘resilient’ microbes in its cleanroomsUnder the radar The bacteria could contaminate space
-
Artemis II: back to the MoonThe Explainer Four astronauts will soon be blasting off into deep space – the first to do so in half a century
-
The mysterious origin of a lemon-shaped exoplanetUnder the radar It may be made from a former star
-
Blue Origin launches Mars probes in NASA debutSpeed Read The New Glenn rocket is carrying small twin spacecraft toward Mars as part of NASA’s Escapade mission
-
‘The Big Crunch’: why science is divided over the future of the universeThe Explainer New study upends the prevailing theory about dark matter and says it is weakening
