NASA probe takes off towards Jupiter’s moon – DW – 10/14/2024

NASA’s Europa Clipper probe set off this Monday (10/14/2024) from the United States to the moon of the planet Jupiter to find out whether its composition allows it to support life. This discovery will have important consequences.

The probe launched from a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission will reach Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, in April 2030.

This is a world that the US space agency has not yet observed in such detail. Scientists estimate that beneath its icy surface there is an ocean of liquid water.

Europe ‘might be livable right now’

“Europa is one of the most promising places to search for life beyond Earth,” NASA spokeswoman Gina DiBraccio said before the launch.

“This is an opportunity for us to explore not a world that might have been habitable billions of years ago,” like Mars, “but one that might be habitable right now,” said Kurt Niebuhr, the science director for the exploration mission. .

The probe is the largest NASA has developed for interplanetary exploration. It reaches 30 meters in length with extended solar panels designed to catch weak light on its way to Jupiter.

Possible ocean is the key to the mission

The first close-up images of Europa, known to exist since 1610, were taken by the Voyager probe in 1979, revealing mysterious reddish lines on its surface.

In the 1990s, the Galileo probe confirmed the very likely presence of an ocean. The mission must determine the structure and composition of the frozen surface, the depth and even the salinity of the future ocean.

This time, Europa Clipper is equipped with several highly sophisticated instruments, including cameras, a spectrograph, radars and a magnetometer.

rr (afp/ap)