NASA’s Europa Clipper has launched from Florida to study Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, to determine if it has the ingredients necessary for life.
The SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket is expected to reach Europa, Jupiter’s moon, in five and a half years.
NASA confirmed they successfully received a signal from the probe, and its large solar arrays designed to capture weak sunlight reaching Jupiter have been deployed.
This mission will allow NASA to gather new details about Europa, with the primary goal of determining if the moon is habitable.
NASA official Gina DiBaraccio stated that the mission will focus on the moon’s potential to support life by searching for water and other life-sustaining elements.
She added that if life ingredients are found, a follow-up mission may be launched to further identify them.
The probe, NASA’s largest interplanetary exploration device with a width of 30 meters when fully extended, will search for water, energy, and chemical compounds essential for life.
The primary mission will last an additional four years and will involve 49 close flybys of Europa, coming as close as 25 kilometers above the moon’s surface.