Scientists are almost certain a deep, global ocean exists beneath Europa's icy crust.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with a NASA spacecraft bound for Jupiter stands ready for launch today on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center Monday, Oct. 14, 2024 in Cape Canaveral, Fla. It will take Europa Clipper 5 1/2 years to reach Jupiter , where it will slip into orbit around the giant gas planet and sneak close to Europa during dozens of radiation-drenched flybys.
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. SpaceX started Clipper on its 1.8 million-mile journey, launching the spacecraft on a Falcon Heavy rocket from Florida's Kennedy Space Center.NASA didn't learn until spring that Clipper's transistors might be more vulnerable to Jupiter's intense radiation field than anticipated. Clipper will endure the equivalent of several million chest X-rays during each of the 49 Europa flybys.
The spacecraft will skim as low as 16 miles above Europa — much closer than the few previous visitors. Onboard radar will attempt to penetrate the moon's ice sheet, believed to be 10 miles to 15 miles or more thick. The ocean below could be 80 miles or more deep.
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