Artist rendering of the Europa Clipper spacecraft flying above the surface of Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter. Credit: NASA
A 1.8-billion-mile journey to search for possible signs of life in our solar system began on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, with the launch of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center. The spacecraft is bound for Europa—a moon of Jupiter with evidence of a massive subsurface ocean—to study a potentially habitable world whose watery environment could support life as we know it.
“Congratulations to our Europa Clipper team for beginning the first journey to an ocean world beyond Earth,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in a NASA press release. “Europa Clipper will help us better understand whether there is the potential for life not just within our solar system, but among the billions of moons and planets beyond our Sun.”
Over the next two years, the spacecraft will use the gravity of Mars and Earth to slingshot and accelerate toward Europa with a target arrival date of April 2030.
Europa Clipper launches aboard a rocket from Kennedy Space Center on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024.
Previous NASA studies have shown evidence that Europa, which is about the same size as our own moon, contains organic compounds and energy sources in a salty, subsurface sea—a body of liquid larger than all of Earth’s waters combined.
The main objectives of the mission are to measure the thickness of Europa’s icy surface and learn about how it interacts with the water below, determine the moon’s composition, and map its geology. Europa Clipper is equipped with a gravity experiment and nine science instruments toward this end, including ice-penetrating radar, cameras, and a thermal instrument to seek out warmer ice and recent water eruptions.
The spacecraft is the largest ever built by NASA for exploration of another planet, and the first of its kind to study an ocean world beyond Earth. To power its advanced suite of instruments, Europa Clipper is also equipped with the largest solar array ever built for an interplanetary mission.
“We’re ecstatic to send Europa Clipper on its way to explore a potentially habitable ocean world, thanks to our colleagues and partners who’ve worked so hard to get us to this day,” said NASA JPL Director Laurie Leshin in a NASA press release. “Europa Clipper will undoubtedly deliver mind-blowing science.”