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NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft boasts its new 10-foot (3-meter) high-gain antenna, after its Aug. 14, 2023, installation in High Bay 1 of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The orbiter is being assembled in preparation for launch to Jupiter's moon Europa in October 2024. The precision-engineered dish was attached to the spacecraft in carefully choreographed stages over the course of several hours. Description Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech

While many are waiting for the long delayed Artemis mission to the moon, there is another space related launch that is particularly exciting. NASA’s Europa Clipper will launch on October 10, 2024. Europa, one of Saturn’s moons, has always been in the minds of astronomers and scientists as its extremely thin atmosphere contains mostly oxygen. Its smoothness has intrigued many scientists, leading to the hypothesis that liquid water exists beneath the surface of the ice; this could be explained by the aggressive gravitational pull that Jupiter puts upon Europa. This pull flexes the moon slightly which causes the planet to dissipate the mechanical energy as heat internally, hypothetically, keeping the ocean in a liquid state. This has led to rampant speculation that Europa may harbor life beneath its icy surface. NASA plans to put this to the test by launching the Europa Clipper which will further confirm this hypothesis and search for signs of life. Due to the intense radiation fields surrounding Jupiter, Europa Clipper will instead take an elliptical orbit around Jupiter allowing a longer transmission time and a higher life expectancy for the craft. While Europa Clipper launches in 2024, it won’t reach Jupiter until 2030 due to the large distance between Earth and Jupiter.