Tech Facts reports, citing the NASA press service, that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has launched the Clipper spacecraft. The station is heading to Jupiter’s moon to determine whether it has conditions suitable for life.
The launch was carried out using Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Europa Clipper lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 12:06 p.m. Eastern Time (19:06 Moscow time) on October 14.
The probe must travel about 2.9 billion km to reach Jupiter’s orbit by April 2030. The station will carry out scientific flights around the satellite from 2031. Europa Clipper has the most complex scientific instruments that NASA has ever sent to Jupiter. It has radars, cameras, and heat-measuring devices on board.
The main objectives of the expedition:
- determination of the thickness of the satellite’s ice shell;
- study of the composition and geology of the subglacial ocean.
It is assumed that Europa’s ocean may contain more water than all the oceans on Earth. Using the data obtained by the probe, scientists will determine whether looking for signs of life on the satellite in the future is worthwhile.
In April 2023, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) spacecraft to study Jupiter’s other moons, Ganymede and Callisto. The surface of these space objects is also covered with ice, under which there may be water oceans. The station will reach Jupiter’s orbit in 2031.
Earlier, it was reported that an international team of scientists led by astrophysicist Keming Zhang from the University of California found an exoplanet (a planet located outside the solar system) whose fate could befall the Earth.
It is believed that the exoplanet could have once had conditions suitable for life. But its “sun” died, passing through the red giant stage and turning into a dim white dwarf. Most likely, the exoplanet has shifted from its original orbit to a more distant distance from the extinct star and is located far from the “habitable zone.”
Astrophysicists have suggested that our Sun will also turn into a red giant. It is capable of swallowing Mercury and Venus; other planets have a chance to survive if they “migrate” to more distant orbits. If the star does not swallow the Earth, it will end up in an orbit twice as large as its current one. The process of the Sun’s transition into a red giant may be launched in approximately 1 billion years.
“When the Sun turns into a red giant, the ‘habitable zone’ will move to the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, and many of their satellites will become ocean planets. I think humanity could move there,” says astrophysicist Keming Zhang.
NASA, ESA successfully launches rocket with probe to study Jupiter’s moons
JUICE is expected to reach Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto in July 2031. The mission aims to study Jupiter’s moons, which may have water oceans beneath their icy surfaces and conditions for life.
The Ariane 5 rocket carrying the JUICE space probe, created by the European Space Agency (ESA) to study the moons of Jupiter, was successfully launched from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, the launch operator, France’s Arianespace, said. The launch took place at 09:14 local time (15:14 Moscow time). It had been postponed earlier due to adverse weather conditions.
The JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) mission has been developing for about ten years. It was originally supposed to involve NASA, Roscosmos, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and ESA, but the program is ultimately being implemented by the European Space Agency independently.
The mission’s main objective is to explore Jupiter’s moons: Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Their surfaces are covered in ice, which may hide water oceans. “These planet-sized moons give us tantalizing hints that conditions for life may exist elsewhere [on Earth], and JUICE has what it takes to bring us one step closer to answering this tantalizing question,” the European Space Agency notes.
