By Sakshi Sah
Published Oct 15, 2024

Hindustan Times
Trending

Photo Credit: NASA

Jupiter's icy moon: 8 top NASA images of Europa Clipper mission

The Europa Clipper mission aims to explore Europa, a moon of Jupiter thought to have an ocean beneath its icy surface.

The mission's primary goal is to determine if Europa has the conditions necessary to support life by studying its ice shell, ocean, and potential plumes of water vapour.

The spacecraft has various scientific instruments, such as cameras, spectrometers, and ice-penetrating radar, to collect data on Europa's surface and subsurface.

Europa's surface is primarily made of water ice, with potential salts and organic materials that could indicate chemical processes favourable to life.

Scientists believe that the subsurface ocean could contain more than twice the amount of water found on Earth.

Europa Clipper will conduct multiple flybys of Europa, gathering detailed information about its surface and geological activity during each pass.

The journey to Jupiter is about 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometres), and Europa Clipper will take a curved route, flying around Mars and then Earth.

The spacecraft will begin orbiting Jupiter in April 2030, and in 2031 it will start making those 49 science-focused flybys of Europa while looping around the gas giant.

About three hours after launch, Europa Clipper will deploy its pair of massive solar arrays, one at a time, and direct them at the Sun.

Europa Clipper will assist scientists in confirming the presence of organics and searching for energy sources beneath the moon's surface.

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