NASA launched the Europa Clipper spacecraft on Monday to explore the possibility of life on Jupiter's moon Europa. The spacecraft was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida using a Falcon Heavy rocket from Elon Musk's company SpaceX.
The mission will last for 6 years and during this time the spacecraft will cover a distance of about 3 billion kilometers. Europa Clipper will enter Jupiter's orbit on 11 April 2030. After this it will pass by the moon Europa 49 times in the next 4 years.
According to the New York Times, scientists believe that Jupiter's moon has oceans of water beneath its icy surface, which could make the moon habitable. Several solar panels are installed on the Europa Clipper spacecraft.
NASA spent 43 thousand crores on this mission It is the largest spacecraft built by NASA to probe another planet. Its size is bigger than a basketball court. NASA has spent 43 thousand crore rupees on this mission.
Spacecraft Europa carried 9 instruments to probe the Moon. It includes cameras, spectrometers, magnetometers and radars. Through this, scientists will be able to find out the depth of the oceans present on Jupiter's moons. Apart from this, they will also look for the presence of other elements necessary for life on Europa's surface. In addition, they will also probe the magnetic field on the moon's surface.
Signs of salt water were discovered on Europa 28 years ago In 1979, the Voyager 2 mission flew past Jupiter. Then he took some pictures of Europa's moon. These showed some pits and craters on the moon, which were seen as a possibility of a geological process.
In 1996, NASA's Galileo spacecraft probed Europa's magnetic field. Then there were the signs of salt water on Europa. Tom McCord, a scientist at the American Planetary Science Institute, said that the Europa Clipper mission was planned in 1995.
The European Agency also sent a mission to Jupiter Earlier on April 14 last year, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the 'Juice' mission to explore the possibility of life on Jupiter's moon Europa. It will reach Jupiter in 2031. Under the JUICE mission, Jupiter's 3 main moons – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa – will be explored.
So far 8 spacecraft have approached Jupiter. The first of these was Pioneer 10, which was sent in 1973 to explore other planets. Spacecraft Juno was launched in 2011. Which is orbiting it since 2016. Juno completed 50 orbits of Jupiter last year.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
