NASA's Europa Clipper mission is now embarking on its journey toward Jupiter after its recent launch from the planet aboard SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, which catapulted it to orbit. It was regarded as the "largest spacecraft NASA ever built for a mission," and it will continue the space agency's previous efforts to investigate Jupiter's icy Moon, Europa, following two previous missions.
SpaceX went on a back-to-back launch after releasing the Starship's fifth test flight and a day after, the Europa Clipper mission, on separate regions of the country.
NASA, SpaceX Europa Clipper Mission Launch
A news release from NASA confirmed the successful launch carried out by SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Pad 39A over at the Kennedy Space Center in Meritt Island, Florida. The private space agency's rocket saw liftoff at 12:06 p.m. EDT, marking the beginning of Europa Clipper's six-year journey to Jupiter's proximity to study its unique lunar satellite.
NASA said Jupiter's icy Moon known as Europa will get a highlight in this first-of-its-kind mission that will look to study more of this "ocean world beyond Earth."
Furthermore, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson shared that this study will help learn more about the potential to foster life outside the planet and into other worlds, as well as give insight into billions of other planets and moons.
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Europa Clipper is Headed to Jupiter by 2030
Europa Clipper is "in good health and operating as expected," said NASA's Deep Space Network facility in Australia, on its way to Jupiter, reaching the largest planet's orbit by April 2030.
However, it would not be a straightforward flight as the spacecraft will use "gravity assists" to help it travel billions of miles. First, it will travel 1.8 billion miles to Mars, which will take four months, before it heads back to Earth for a "gravity assist flyby" in 2026. It will then embark on its journey to Jupiter.
NASA's Jupiter Icy Moon Studies
The quest to learn more about the largest gaseous planet in the solar system is something that NASA is continuously making an effort to fulfill, with its various missions already in place, and the Europa Clipper following soon. Ninety-five officially recognized moons orbit Jupiter, and NASA is looking to study the unique ones, with the Juno spacecraft doing this already.
NASA also took this opportunity with Juno's proximity to the "king" of the solar system planets to take data from Jupiter, with the spacecraft flying by its many moons and the gaseous planet itself. Because of this side mission, NASA was able to determine that Jupiter indeed devoured smaller planets (planetesimals) in the past, helping it achieve its gargantuan size.
There were many studies launched by NASA in the past, as well as using space telescopes to focus on the large planet to learn more about what it has going on, as well as how it came to be in the same system as Earth. Soon, the Europa Clipper will reach Jupiter's orbit in a long six-year venture, but it is set to arrive at the start of the next decade, signaling new beginnings for the planet's study.
