A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket successfully lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Monday morning, carrying a NASA probe designed to explore Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, and search for signs of alien life.
The Europa Clipper is now on its 1.8-billion-mile, five-and-a-half-year journey to the solar system’s largest planet. “NASA has officially retired a tremendous amount of risk on the mission,” said Jordan Evans, Europa Clipper project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Clipper’s journey will not be direct. It will receive a gravity assist by sling-shotting around Mars early next year, then boomeranging back around Earth in late 2026 before heading towards the gas giant and its dynamic moon. The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive in 2030 and will gather data for more than four years. At the end of the mission, Clipper will fly itself into one of Jupiter’s rocky moons to prevent contaminating Europa.
Originally set for October 10, the launch was postponed as Clipper spent the day secured in SpaceX’s hangar to ride out Hurricane Milton. On Monday morning, the skies over Florida’s space coast were clear, with only a few wispy clouds.
Scientists have long advocated for a Europa mission, particularly since NASA’s Galileo probe suggested that the moon likely possesses a subterranean global ocean, heated by Jupiter’s gravitational forces. “Scientists have urged NASA to search for signs of life near Jupiter. Now it’s happening,” added Evans.
