NASA has launched its ambitious Europa Clipper mission to search for potential signs of life on Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles to the distant moon, where it will conduct over 40 flybys to investigate the possibility of life-supporting conditions beneath the surface. This marks a new chapter in humanity’s search for extraterrestrial life beyond Earth, according to NASA.
- The Europa Clipper spacecraft will fly by Europa 40 times, searching for ingredients that could support life in its suspected subsurface ocean beneath the icy crust.
- Scientists are particularly interested in whether Europa’s ocean has the necessary ingredients for life: liquid water, essential molecules, and energy sources.
- The mission will last for four years, during which the probe will endure harsh radiation to explore the moon’s potential habitability, an effort that could bring us closer to discovering extraterrestrial life.