Europa Clipper Launch: Racing Toward Jupiter’s Ocean Moon

Image from NASA

The Mission Lifts Off

NASA sent the Europa Clipper spacecraft into orbit on 14 October 2024, to explore Jupiter's moon Europa.

It will perform dozens of close flybys during its mission, mapping ice thickness, detecting subsurface water, and assessing habitability.

The launch comes after the push to explore ocean worlds and determine places that may harbor life beyond Earth.

Why Europa is Important

Europa has strong evidence for a global subsurface ocean under its ice layer, in contact with a possible silicate mantle: settings that may be habitable. Clipper's instruments (radar, magnetometers, cameras) will explore ice, chemistry, and habitability.

The mission information may aid in the choosing of landing sites for future missions (robotic or human) and guide the search for biosignatures.

Planetary-science-wise, an investigation of Europa brings together icy moon research, cryovolcanoes, ocean chemistry, and planetary formation. The October launch is an ambitious jump into that frontier.