NASA launched it's Europa Clipper mission on the 14th October after a nervous post-hurricane check of the launch site. The mission will reach Europa to begin it's scientific study in 2030 after travelling 1.8 billion miles. The Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission, due in part to the huge solar arrays and radar antennas necessary to capture solar energy to power it at five times the distance from the Sun as here on Earth.
The mission goal is to investigate Europa in much more detail using spectrometers and high-resolution imagery, as well as ice-penetrating radar to search for subsurface water. Magnetometers, gravity measurements and thermal instruments will also discover clues about it's ocean and deep interior.
The mission is not without significant challenges as the Europa Clipper payload and other electronics will be subjected to high radiation trapped in Jupiter's magnetic field. The systems have been encased in a thick-walled vault made of titanium and aluminium to act as a radiation shield, slowing-down the degredation of the electronics.
Each of the 50 planned orbits will subject Europa Clipper to the equivelent of one million X-rays.
Europa Clipper is chasing the earlier European mission, JUICE, but will reach first with a slingshot using Mars
Keywords: Space Mission Europa Spacecraft NASA Launch