According to NASA, the ingredients for life may currently exist on Europa.
SpaceX recently made progress towards Elon Musk’s goal of colonizing Mars by launching a NASA space probe on a mission to search for organic life on Jupiter’s moon Europa.
It will take approximately 5 1/2 years for the Europa Clipper to reach Jupiter, where it will conduct numerous flybys of Europa to observe the moon’s surface.
Prior data from NASA missions suggests that Europa may have a vast salty ocean beneath its icy exterior, making it a potential habitat for life.
The Europa Clipper will orbit Jupiter every 21 days and conduct a total of 49 flybys of Europa to gather data.
NASA’s Gina DiBraccio mentioned that ocean worlds like Europa could be habitable at present.
The spacecraft will use nine instruments to study Europa’s icy crust, ocean composition, and geology during its mission.
Clipper will fly over different regions of Europa during each flyby to cover the entire moon’s surface.
NASA hopes that this mission will provide insights into the potential for habitable worlds beyond Earth.
The NASA Europa Clipper spacecraft inside a spacecraft assembly facility clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., on April 11, 2024. Mario Tama/Getty Images
The $5.2 billion mission faced challenges due to Jupiter’s radiation field, but NASA implemented protective measures to ensure Clipper’s safety.
To shield against radiation, the spacecraft’s electronics were enclosed in a vault made of specialized materials.
Europa, discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610, remains an intriguing target for scientific exploration.
This article includes contributions from The Associated Press and NTD News.
