A spacecraft designed to search for signs of alien life on one of Jupiter's icy moons has successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
NASA lifted off at 12:06 local time (16:06 GMT) after hurricane Milton delayed the mission last week. The Europa Clipper will embark on a journey of 1.8 billion miles to reach Europa, a fascinating moon orbiting Jupiter.
Although it won’t arrive until 2030, its discoveries could significantly alter our understanding of life in our solar system.
Beneath the moon's icy surface may lie a vast ocean containing twice the amount of water found on Earth.
The spacecraft is racing against a European mission that launched last year, but thanks to a clever "cosmic piggyback" strategy, it is set to overtake and arrive first.
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| The spacecraft was developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. |
A moon that is five times brighter than ours.
Years in the making, the launch of the Europa Clipper was postponed at the last minute due to hurricane Milton, which hit Florida this week.
The spacecraft was hurriedly moved indoors for safety, but after engineers inspected the launchpad at Cape Canaveral for any damage, they confirmed the go-ahead for liftoff at 12:06 local time (16:06 GMT).
If we find life so far from the Sun, it would suggest a separate origin of life from that on Earth,” explains Mark Fox-Powell, a planetary microbiologist at the Open University. “That would be immensely significant; if life can emerge independently in our solar system, it could indicate that life is quite common.
Europa, located 628 million kilometers from Earth, is slightly larger than our moon, but that's where the similarities end. If it were in our sky, it would shine five times brighter due to its reflective water ice.
Its icy crust could be up to 25 kilometers thick, with a vast saltwater ocean churning beneath. This ocean may contain chemicals that are essential for supporting simple life forms.
Scientists first recognized Europa’s potential to support life in the 1970s when they observed water ice through a telescope in Arizona.
The Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft provided the first close-up images, and in 1995, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft flew past Europa, capturing intriguing images of its surface, which is marked by dark, reddish-brown cracks. These fractures may contain salts and sulfur compounds that could support life.
Since then, the Hubble Space Telescope has observed what appear to be plumes of water shooting 100 miles (160 kilometers) above the moon’s surface.
However, none of these missions were able to get close enough to Europa for a long enough duration to gain a comprehensive understanding of it.
Flying Through Water Plumes
Now, scientists are optimistic that the instruments on NASA’s Clipper spacecraft will map nearly the entire surface of Europa while also collecting dust particles and flying through the water plumes.
Britney Schmidt, a professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Cornell University, contributed to the design of a laser onboard the spacecraft that will be able to see through the moon's icy crust.
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| The unusual surface of Europa, captured by the Galileo spacecraft in the 1990s. |
I’m most excited about uncovering Europa’s plumbing system. Where is the water? Europa has icy equivalents of Earth’s subduction zones, magma chambers, and tectonics—we’re going to investigate these areas and create detailed maps, she says.
Her instrument, known as Reason, was tested in Antarctica.
However, unlike on Earth, all instruments on the Clipper will face significant radiation, which Prof. Schmidt describes as a “major concern.”
The spacecraft will fly past Europa about 50 times, enduring radiation exposure equivalent to one million X-rays each time.
Much of the electronics are housed in a heavily shielded vault to protect against radiation,” explains Prof. Schmidt.
As the largest spacecraft ever built for a planetary mission, it faces a long journey ahead. Traveling 1.8 billion miles, it will utilize a slingshot effect, orbiting both Earth and Mars to gain momentum toward Jupiter.
The spacecraft cannot carry enough fuel for the entire journey on its own, so it will rely on the gravitational pull of Earth and Mars for additional momentum.
It will overtake JUICE, the European Space Agency’s mission that will also explore Europa before continuing to Ganymede, another of Jupiter’s moons.
As Clipper approaches Europa in 2030, it will activate its engines to carefully maneuver into the correct orbit.
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| The left image displays Europa's natural appearance, while the right image uses color to emphasize the water-ice crust. |
Space scientists are cautious when discussing the chances of discovering life, emphasizing that there’s no expectation of finding human-like creatures or animals.
We are searching for the potential for habitability, which requires four key elements: liquid water, a heat source, organic material, and stability over a long enough time for life to develop, explains Michelle Dougherty, a professor of space physics at Imperial College London.
By better understanding Europa’s icy surface, they hope to identify suitable landing sites for future missions.
An international team from NASA, the Jet Propulsion Lab, and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab will oversee this ambitious endeavor.
In an era when space launches are frequent, this mission stands out, according to Professor Fox-Powell. There’s no profit motive here. This is about exploration and curiosity, pushing the boundaries of our knowledge about our place in the universe, he says.
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