The search for life beyond our blue and green marble is incredibly fascinating but NASA is looking to a seemingly strange body in our solar system – the Jovian moon, Europa.
As you might be aware, Europa is clad in ice and its proximity to Jupiter means the surface of the moon is too radioactive to sustain life as we know it. However, there is a belief that perhaps the oceans under the ice could prove hospitable for life.
In order to find out, NASA has to send a mission to Europa and, in 2024, it will.
The Europa Clipper mission will launch aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket from SpaceX which has been selected to provide launch services for the mission. The value of the contract is approximately $178 million.
NASA had reportedly considered using its Space Launch System rocket to launch the mission but several factors changed that stance. For one, SpaceX’s offer was cheaper than the $2 billion estimation the White House provided for using the Space Launch System.
According to a report from Ars Technica, the Space Launch System would’ve had to travel further in order to slingshot around Venus. That’s if the craft was even ready which Boeing was reportedly not able to do by 2024.
Assuming everything goes according to plan, the Europa Clipper mission should arrive in Europa’s orbit by 2030, but when it arrives it will have many important tasks to complete.
“Europa Clipper will conduct a detailed survey of Europa and use a sophisticated suite of science instruments to investigate whether the icy moon has conditions suitable for life. Key mission objectives are to produce high-resolution images of Europa’s surface, determine its composition, look for signs of recent or ongoing geological activity, measure the thickness of the moon’s icy shell, search for subsurface lakes, and determine the depth and salinity of Europa’s ocean,” wrote NASA.
Scientists believe that Europa, along with Io, Ganymede and Callisto were formed after Jupiter condensed into the gas giant we know now. This means that the moons are likely as old as the solar system.
It is a fascinating celestial body and we hope to see Europa Clipper arrive and help us better understand our solar system.
[Image – NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute]
