NASA Sends Massive Spacecraft to Jupiter’s Moon Europa in Search of Extraterrestrial Habitability
Jupiter’s moon Europa isa wild place. It’s an ice-covered world, however experts believe that underneath that frozen exterior is a vast ocean. And that’s why it just might be the best place out in the Solar System to look for life and that’s what this mission is hoping to discover.
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00:00Jupiter's moon Europa is a wild place.
00:06It's an ice-covered world.
00:07However, experts believe that underneath that frozen exterior is a vast liquid ocean.
00:12And that's why it just might be the best place out in the solar system to look for life.
00:17And that's what this mission is hoping to discover.
00:19On October 14th, NASA launched the Europa Clipper, a robotic solar-powered spacecraft.
00:24It will now spend the next five plus years traveling some 1.8 billion miles.
00:29Eventually entering an orbit around Jupiter with Europa in 2030.
00:33Europa Clipper is the largest NASA spacecraft to ever be sent to investigate a planetary
00:37body, stretching 100 feet tall and 58 feet wide.
00:41Meaning with its solar arrays fully extended, Europa Clipper is bigger than a basketball
00:45court.
00:46The spacecraft also weighs in at around 13,000 pounds, which is why they employed a SpaceX
00:51Falcon Heavy to get the whole thing off-world.
00:54The solar array will power nine scientific instruments, specifically designed to investigate
00:58whether or not Europa could potentially harbor life.
01:01Jupiter's massive size produces a significant gravitational pull on Europa, causing it to
01:06flex and deform.
01:07This tidal flexing produces heat, which experts say likely means a salty liquid ocean could
01:12be hiding under its frozen exterior.