NASA's 6-year-long mission to Jupiter's icy moon set to launch Thursday: What is the Europa Clipper?
NASA's Europa Clipper Project: Orlando Science exhibit
Orlando Science Center is thrilled to announce that it will host a special exhibit pop-up, "Voyage of Europa Clipper: Exploring an Alien Ocean," brought to you by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), on Saturday, October 5, 2024. This captivating exhibit experience is part of JPL’s engagement activities leading up to the highly anticipated launch of the Europa Clipper mission in October 2024. Good Day Orlando had the chance to sit down with Dr.Jenny Kampmeier the Science Systems Engineer.
ORLANDO, Fl - NASA's 6-year-long mission is set to launch Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.
NASA's Europa Clipper mission aims to investigate whether there are regions beneath the surface of Jupiter's icy moon, Europa, that could support life. Its primary focus is to determine the habitability of this distant world by exploring the nature of Europa's ice shell, the ocean thought to exist beneath it, and the moon’s overall composition and geological activity.
NASA's Europa Clipper (Source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Here are some key aspects of the Europa Clipper mission:
Launch and Arrival:
The Europa Clipper is scheduled to launch on October 10th, 2024 at 12:30p.m. and is expected to arrive at Europa around 2030. The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter and perform nearly 50 close flybys of Europa, gathering detailed measurements as it passes just 16 miles above the surface. Each flyby will cover different regions of the moon, allowing the spacecraft to scan and map almost the entire surface.
Mission Goals:
The primary goal of the mission is to determine if Europa could support life by studying the moon’s ice shell, subsurface ocean, surface composition, and the overall geology of the moon.
Scientists want to understand the thickness of the ice shell, the depth and salinity of the ocean beneath it, and whether there are any plumes of water vapor erupting from cracks in the surface.
Science Instruments:
The spacecraft will carry a suite of sophisticated instruments, including ice-penetrating radar, cameras, spectrometers, and magnetometers, to analyze Europa's surface and subsurface features. It will search for evidence of the moon's ocean, measure the moon's gravity field, and determine the thickness of the ice layer.
Search for Signs of Life:
Although Europa Clipper will not land on Europa, its mission is crucial for understanding whether the moon’s environment could be suitable for life. The data collected could help scientists determine if there are the right ingredients for life in the ocean beneath Europa's ice, including water, energy sources, and key chemicals.
This mission is part of NASA’s broader efforts to explore ocean worlds in our solar system and assess their potential to support life.