NASA is finalizing details for the Europa Clipper launch to Jupiter. But you still have time to submit your name to NASA to be stamped on the probe before she begins her journey. Launch, operated by a Falcon Heavy, is scheduled for October 2024, with arrival at Jupiter in April 2030.
Europe Clippers is a mission designed to get into orbit around Jupiter. An orbit around Europa would be impossible without a large fuel load due to the low gravity of the Moon but orbits that come close to Europa up to 45 times a year should. Altitudes between 2,700 and 25 kilometers.
The mission aims to study the habitability of Europa and contribute to the selection of a landing site for the future Europa lander, although this lander currently only exists as a concept. This exploration of Europe focuses on examining the three main requirements for life as we know it: liquid water, chemistry, and energy.
Specifically, Europa Clipper will study the ice sheet and the ocean that all indications indicate are beneath it; the distribution and chemistry of important compounds and their relationship to ocean composition; and the geology of the moon. For all this, he assembles nine instruments.
If all goes well for a while, it will coexist in orbit around Jupiter with the European Space Agency’s (ESA) JUICE probe, which began its journey in April 2023 but won’t arrive there until 2031. What is highly unlikely is that Juno, which has been in orbit around Jupiter since July 2016 and recently completed its 50th orbit, will proceed when the two get there.
