NASA launches mission to find signs of life on Jupiter moon

NASA’s search for life on other planets continues with the launch Monday, Oct. 14 of its mission to one of Jupiter’s moons. Europa has long been thought to have a vast underground ocean and a potentially habitable environment. Now, NASA intends to find out if that’s true.

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The mission, dubbed Europa Clipper, has started its long journey to Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon. The spacecraft launched at 12:06 p.m. EDT aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA said it’s the largest spacecraft the agency has ever built for a mission headed to another planet. The Europa Clipper also is the first NASA mission dedicated to studying an ocean world beyond Earth. 

“Congratulations to our Europa Clipper team for beginning the first journey to an ocean world beyond Earth,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. “NASA leads the world in exploration and discovery, and the Europa Clipper mission is no different. By exploring the unknown, Europa Clipper will help us better understand whether there is the potential for life not just within our solar system, but among the billions of moons and planets beyond our Sun.”

According to NASA, information from its Galileo mission in the 1990s showed strong evidence that under Europa’s ice lies an enormous, salty ocean with more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined. Scientists also have found evidence that Europa may host organic compounds and energy sources under its surface.

The spacecraft is expected to enter the planet’s orbit in 2030 after a flight of 1.8 billion miles. It will then fly past Europa 49 times.

NASA said if the mission determines Europa is habitable, it may mean there are more habitable worlds in our solar system and beyond than imagined.