A NASA spacecraft will depart for distant Europa next week — the first mission to conduct a detailed study of Jupiter's moon. Liftoff remains scheduled for October 10 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with an estimated arrival in 2030. The launch date was approved by NASA on Monday and the mission aims to “determine if Europa has conditions suitable to support life”.
“Europa Clipper will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion km) to reach Jupiter in April 2030. The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter, and conduct 49 close flybys of Europa. On each orbit, the spacecraft will spend less than a day in the dangerous radiation zone near Europa before zipping back out. Two to three weeks later, it will repeat the process. The spacecraft carries nine science instruments, and a gravity experiment that uses the telecommunications system. All science instruments will operate simultaneously on every pass,” the NASA website explains.
Questions about the reliability of the transistors on the Europa Clipper spacecraft arose earlier this year after similar problems cropped up elsewhere. With the tight launch window looming, NASA rushed to conduct tests to verify that the electronic parts could survive the $5 billion mission to determine whether the suspected ocean beneath Europa's icy crust might be suitable for life.
(With inputs from agencies)
