SpaceX Launches NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 took off this morning for Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.
(Merritt Island, Florida) SpaceX this morning launched NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa from launch Complex 39-A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Photo of this morning’s SpaceX launch of NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission courtesy of @spacex on Instagram.
The flight marked the sixth and final for the first stage Falcon Heavy side boosters supporting the mission, which previously launched USSF-44, USSF-67, USSF-52, Hughes JUPITER 3, and NASA’s Psyche mission exactly one year ago, according to SpaceX.
Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission; its solar arrays span more than 100 feet (~30 meters) when deployed and weigh nearly 13,000 pounds (6,000 kilograms) at launch, per SpaceX.
Powered by 24 engines, Europa Clipper will make nearly 50 flybys of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa while surveying for conditions suitable to support life after scientists predicted that a salty ocean lies beneath Europa’s icy surface, which has more water than Earth’s oceans combined, according to SpaceX.
The spacecraft will take five years to reach Europa, with an anticipated arrival in 2030.
