On Monday, SpaceX and NASA launched the highly anticipated Europa Clipper flagship mission towards Jupiter. The six-ton spacecraft’s arrival is expected in 2030, then it will perform nearly 50 flybys of Jupiter’s moon Europa.
During the flybys, the spacecraft will use a powerful suite of nine science instruments (cameras, spectrometers, radars, and others) that will work in sync. The ultimate goal? Determine whether Europa has what it needs to support life.
You can rewatch the launch on NASA"s social media channels:
Watch as our largest planetary spacecraft takes flight!@EuropaClipper is targeted to launch at 12:06pm ET (1606 UTC) on a Falcon Heavy rocket from @NASAKennedy, beginning its journey to Jupiter’s ocean moon, Europa. https://t.co/ajxnh7LMhQ
— NASA (@NASA) October 14, 2024
Scientists predict a salty ocean lies beneath Europa’s icy surface which has more water than Earth’s oceans combined.
The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet. Europa Clipper’s three main science objectives are to:
- Determine the thickness of Europa’s icy shell, and understand how Europa’s ocean interacts with the surface
- Investigate the composition of Europa’s ocean to determine if it has the ingredients to permit and sustain life
- Study how Europa’s surface features formed and locate any signs of recent activity, such as sliding crust plates or plumes that are venting water into space
Per Everyday Astronaut’s statistics, Europa Clipper marks SpaceX’s 400th launch. However, the company won"t celebrate the successful mission by recovering the reusable rocket boosters. The reason is simple—Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission with solar arrays spanning more than 100 feet (30 meters), and it will travel 1.8 billion miles from Earth. This means the performance needed to launch the spacecraft didn’t allow the fuel margin required to land the boosters.
While the core booster was brand new, the side boosters flew for the sixth and last time. This is only the second mission on which the rocket was fully expended. Until now, the first and only such mission was Viasat-3 in May 2023.
Anyway, SpaceX engineers have nothing to cry for after they achieved an incredible mid-air catch of the Super Heavy booster on Sunday, followed by a strong start to the new week with Europa Clipper’s success.