A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Monday morning, carrying a NASA probe aimed at exploring Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, and investigating the potential for life there.
The Europa Clipper is embarking on a significant journey of 1.8 billion miles that will last over the next 5½ years. Jordan Evans, project manager for the Europa Clipper at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, stated that the mission has successfully mitigated a substantial amount of risk as it gets underway.
The launch proceeded smoothly, with the spacecraft lifting off at 9:06 a.m. Pacific time. Shortly after takeoff, the side boosters detached approximately three minutes into the flight, followed by the main booster shutting down and descending back to Earth a minute later. The fairing protecting the Clipper separated about four and a half minutes after liftoff.
Following an eight-minute engine burn, the spacecraft entered a coasting orbit around Earth, and a subsequent, shorter burn set it on a course to leave Earth’s influence. Approximately an hour after launch, teams at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory celebrated the successful separation of the spacecraft from the rocket. Initially, the probe appeared as a compact cube with its solar panels folded.
As the mission’s flight director Pranay Mishra advised onlookers to bid farewell to Clipper as it began its journey, cheers erupted when confirmation of direct communication with the spacecraft was received. Mission managers indicated that while there were some indications of issues with the propulsion system, the probe successfully oriented itself, implying that it was functioning as intended.
The Clipper will not take a direct route to Europa; instead, it will utilize gravity assists by flying around Mars early next year and making another swing around Earth in late 2026 before heading towards Jupiter and its moon.
The probe is scheduled to reach its destination in 2030, where it will conduct research for over four years. To prevent contamination of Europa, the Clipper will conclude its mission by crashing into one of Jupiter’s other rocky moons.
Originally slated for launch on Thursday, the mission was postponed due to Hurricane Milton, with the rocket remaining secured in SpaceX’s hangar. The weather cleared for a successful launch on Monday.
Scientists have been advocating for a mission to Europa for decades, especially since the findings of NASA’s Galileo probe suggested that the moon might harbor a subsurface ocean heated by gravitational forces from Jupiter.
With essential elements like water, heat, and possible organic compounds, there is a strong belief that Europa may host conditions suitable for extraterrestrial life. While in orbit around Jupiter, the Clipper will conduct numerous flybys of Europa, using its scientific instruments to analyze the moon’s subsurface ocean and search for organic materials that could indicate life.
The $5 billion Europa Clipper mission was developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and is noted as NASA’s largest planetary probe to date. The launch was executed using SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, enhanced with additional boosters. Unlike typical recoveries of their boosters, SpaceX allowed them to fall into the ocean to ensure maximum fuel was used for the mission.
Matthew Shindell, a curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, remarked on the advantages of modern heavy-lift rocket capabilities, highlighting how launching such missions was not feasible a decade ago.