It's launch day! We're off to Europa.
- TF
- Oct 14, 2024
- 1 min read
Updated: Oct 16, 2024
NASA’s mission to investigate Jupiter’s icy moon Europa launches today!
The 1.8 billion-mile journey of NASA’s Europa Clipper will launch on a SpaceX Falcon heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
The Europa Clipper will reach the Jupiter system in April 2030 and spend four years conducting close flybys of Europa to determine if this ocean moon is habitable.
Image Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
The above artist concept (not to scale) "depicts what Europa's internal structure could look like: an outer shell of ice, perhaps with plumes of material venting from beneath the surface; a deep, global layer of liquid water; and a rocky interior, potentially with hydrothermal vents on the seafloor. The true nature of Europa's inner structure will be examined by NASA's Europa Clipper mission, which is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in 2030."
