NASA and SpaceX have launched NASA\u2019s Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter\u2019s icy moon Europa atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Falcon Heavy launched during an instantaneous launch window on Monday, Oct. 14, at 12:05 PM EDT (16:05 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. If Monday\u2019s attempt was scrubbed, a backup launch opportunity was available for Tuesday, Oct. 15, as well as throughout the rest of October, but these attempts were not needed.<\/p>\n
Europa Clipper is perhaps the most important planetary science mission launching this decade. One of NASA\u2019s large strategic science missions (also known as a flagship mission), Europa Clipper will be the largest planetary science mission ever developed by NASA and the first mission to perform an in-depth investigation of Europa and its potential habitability.<\/p>\n
Europa Clipper\u2019s history<\/p>\n
Planetary scientists and space agencies alike have long desired and planned a mission to Europa. Scientists first found indications of water ice on Europa in the 1950s, and subsequent missions to Jupiter, such as Galileo, Cassini-Huygens, and Juno, have revealed more about the planet\u2019s watery nature. This culminated in the discovery of a subsurface ocean beneath the moon\u2019s icy surface.<\/p>\n
However, while scientists have substantial evidence for the existence of a subsurface ocean, most notably through the presence of surface water vapor plumes, the existence of the ocean has not been explicitly confirmed. Given Europa\u2019s location in the solar system and the likelihood of a subsurface ocean containing elements that allow for the existence of life, the need for a mission to Europa increased substantially throughout the 2000s and 2010s.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n