NASA has successfully launched Clipper mission to Europa into space on Monday 14 October 2024. Two-way communication has been established with the spacecraft since its launch and the current reports suggest that Europa Clipper is operating as expected and is ingood health.
Europa is about the size of Moon. One of the largest satellites of Jupiter, it has a thick water-ice crust and a vast subsurface saltwater ocean beneath its icy surface. It is suggested to be one of the most promising places in the solar system to harbour some form of life. The main objective of the Clipper mission is to determine whether Europa has conditions that could support life. The mission shall shed more light on possibility of finding some lifeform in Europa’s Ocean.
The spacecraft will travel about 2.9 billion km. It will begin orbiting Jupiter in April 2030 and will the fly past Europa 49 times. In 2031, Europa Clipper will become operational and will begin the science-dedicated flybys of Europa coming as close as 25 km to its surface. The close flybys will give opportunities to study Europa’s atmosphere, surface and deep interior using sophisticated suite of science instruments onboard the spacecraft.
Life is not possible on Europa’s surface due to continuous exposure to heavy radiation from Jupiter and outer space. However, its ocean may have necessary basic building blocks of life. Photosynthesis is not possible as it is covered by thick ice layer. Chemical reactions are known to power primitive life forms. Because Europa also is nearly as old as Earth, it is possible that some primitive life may have evolved in its ocean whose respiration may be supported by the production of oxygen on the surface (through cosmic radiation induced breakdown of H2O molecules) and its subsequent diffusion to subsurface ocean.
Any possible future finding of primitive microbial life in Europa’s ocean will, for the first time, demonstrate independent emergence of life at two different places in the universe.
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Sources:
- Lift off! NASA’s Europa Clipper Sails Toward Ocean Moon of Jupiter. 14 October 2024. Available at https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/liftoff-nasas-europa-clipper-sails-toward-ocean-moon-of-jupiter/
- Europa Clipper Press Kit. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/press-kits/europa-clipper/
- Prasad U., 2024. Prospect of Life in Europa’s Ocean: Juno Mission finds low Oxygen Production. Scientific European. Published 9 March 2024. Available at http://scientificeuropean.co.uk/sciences/space/prospect-of-life-in-europas-ocean-juno-mission-finds-low-oxygen-production/
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Related article
Prospect of Life in Europa’s Ocean: Juno Mission finds low Oxygen Production (9 March 2024).
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