SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Launches NASA’s Europa Clipper in Groundbreaking Mission To Explore Jupiter’s Moon and Find out if Its Ocean Can Hold Life

It’s not every day that humans launch a space mission of such potential as it was done on Monday in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket was launched on a quest to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa and reveal whether its vast hidden ocean might hold the keys to life.

The mission will take the spacecraft Europa Clipper five and a half years to reach Jupiter, orbit around the Solar system’s largest planet and sneak close to its fourth largest moon, Europa.

Associated Press reported:

“Scientists are almost certain a deep, global ocean exists beneath Europa’s icy crust. And where there is water, there could be life, making the moon one of the most promising places out there to hunt for it.

Europa Clipper won’t look for life; it has no life detectors. Instead, the spacecraft will zero in on the ingredients necessary to sustain life, searching for organic compounds and other clues as it peers beneath the ice for suitable conditions.”

Falcon Heavy lifts off from pad 39A in Florida for the 11th time! pic.twitter.com/tcZu1LOOOm

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 14, 2024

The Clipper will undertake a 1.8 billion-mile journey, but it only took an hour for it to be separated from the upper stage of the rocket, float off and message mission control.

“’The science on this is really captivating’, NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free told The Associated Press back at the launch site. Scientists are still learning about the depths of our own ocean, ‘and here we are looking that far out’.”

The mission preparation had to deal with the effect of radiation on its by transistors, that turned out to be more vulnerable to Jupiter’s radiation field than anticipated.

After months reviewing everything, it was concluded in September that the mission could proceed as planned.

“About the size of a basketball court with its solar wings unfurled, Clipper will swing past Mars and then Earth on its way to Jupiter for gravity assists. The nearly 13,000-pound (5,700-kilogram) probe should reach the solar system’s biggest planet in 2030.”

Falcon Heavy launches @NASA‘s Europa Clipper from pad 39A in Florida, beginning the spacecraft’s five-year journey to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa pic.twitter.com/me4ZBq8bYv

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 14, 2024

The Clipper mission will orbit Jupiter every 21 days, until coming close to Europa, one of 95 ‘known’ Jupiter moons – and close to our own moon in size.

The spacecraft will fly as low as 16 miles above Europa when its radar will try to see through the moon’s ice sheet, believed to be 10 to 15 miles thick.

The ocean below is believed to be 80 miles deep or more.

Clipper’s nine instruments are stored in a compartment with dense zinc and aluminum walls for protection against radiation.

If even simple bacterial life is discovered on Europa, this will be the most significant planetary mission ever.

Godspeed @EuropaClipper! https://t.co/mWhK6cVOhC

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2024

The mission will last until 2034.

“’Ocean worlds like Europa are not only unique because they might be habitable, but they might be habitable today’, NASA’s Gina DiBraccio said on the eve of launch.”

If the mission discovers that there are conditions for for life at Europa, it is believed that life may be present at other ocean worlds in our solar system and beyond.

With an underground ocean and geysers, Saturn’s moon Enceladus is another top candidate.

Europa is about the same size as Earth’s moon – yet evidence suggests that, beneath its surface, it has more water than all Earth’s oceans combined! See why we think this is the case and the implications for life. pic.twitter.com/oDKnoHLj08

— NASA Europa Clipper (@EuropaClipper) October 14, 2024