Space probe is on its way Nasa is now searching for life on Jupiter's moon Europa
Jupiter's moon Europa is considered a promising candidate for a celestial body that could harbor life. NASA has now sent out the Europa Clipper probe to get to the bottom of the conditions.
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- The Europa Clipper space probe has set off for Jupiter's moon Europa in search of a world that could potentially support life
- After almost three billion kilometers of flight, "Europa Clipper" is expected to arrive in Jupiter's orbit in 2030.
- According to NASA, Europa is considered "the most promising potentially life-friendly environment in the solar system".
The US space agency has sent its Europa Clipper probe on its way to Jupiter's moon Europa. A Falcon Heavy rocket from SpaceX lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Center on Monday. The probe, which weighs around 5.7 tons, is to investigate whether the conditions for life exist on Europa.
"Europa Clipper" will use the gravitational pull of other planets to reach Jupiter in five and a half years. To do this, the probe, which is about the size of a basketball court with its solar panels spread out, will first fly past Mars and then back to Earth. It should then reach Jupiter in 2030 and enter an orbit in which it will circle the planet every 21 days.
In the process, it will repeatedly come close to Jupiter's moon Europa, which is similar in size to our own moon. The space probe will come within 25,000 meters of it. The on-board radar will attempt to penetrate the moon's ice layer, which is thought to be 15 to 24 kilometers thick or even thicker. The ocean below could be 120 kilometers or even deeper.
Mission almost failed
The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted geysers on Europa that appear to be erupting from the surface. Scientists are almost certain that a deep, global ocean exists beneath Europa's icy crust. And where there is water, there could also be life.
"Europa Clipper" will not search for life directly, but for the components necessary to sustain life - organic compounds and other clues. In 2034, the probe is expected to crash into Jupiter's moon Ganymede, the largest moon in our solar system.
The expedition, which cost 5.2 billion dollars (around 4.5 billion Swiss francs), almost failed due to transistors. It was only in the spring that NASA learned that the probe's transistors may be more susceptible to Jupiter's intense radiation field than assumed. Clipper will have to withstand the equivalent of several million X-ray images on each of its 49 flybys of Europa.
The space agency reviewed everything for months before concluding in September that the expedition could go ahead as planned. "Europa Clipper" contains nine instruments whose sensitive electronics are housed in a vault with thick zinc and aluminum walls to protect them from radiation.
Messages for aliens
If conditions prove favorable for life on Europa, scientists believe there is also the possibility of life elsewhere in our solar system, including on Saturn's moon Enceladus.
Like many other research robots before it, "Europa Clipper" also has messages from Earth on board, including the word water in 104 languages, a poem about the moon by US poet Ada Limon and a silicon chip with the names of 2.6 million people who have signed up for it.
SDA
