Europa is one of Jupiter’s moons and is considered a promising place to search for life beyond Earth. NASA has recently announced that the Europa Clipper spacecraft reached an important stage and remains on schedule for a launch in October. The mission aims to investigate Jupiter’s moon to find out if humans can live on it.
Its launch window is set to open on October 10, CNN reported. The mission advanced past a major decision checkpoint, allowing it to proceed. This came as a relief to the team, following concerns raised in May over potential problems with the spacecraft’s transistors.
Over a period of four months, the transistors were thoroughly assessed at three key locations: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
The team finished the tests on schedule, avoiding a delay of over a year for the Europa exploration mission. Europa Clipper has ten scientific tools designed to investigate the possibility of life beneath Europa’s icy surface. It has now received the green light for launch without altering its objectives or course.
“It’s the last sort of big review before we really get into that launch fever, and we’re really happy to say that they unequivocally passed that review today,” CNN quoted Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, as saying.
Jupiter: The largest planet
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and greatly outsizes the others. Its magnetic field, immensely more powerful than Earth’s, captures charged particles and speeds them up.
These fast-moving particles emit strong radiation that constantly hits Europa and nearby moons. Consequently, spacecraft bound for Jupiter require specially protected electronics to withstand the radiation.
“It’s a chance for us to explore, not a world that might have been habitable billions of years ago, but a world that might be habitable today,” CNN quoted Europa Clipper program scientist Curt Niebur as saying.