Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
-
Similar Topics
-
By NASA
Technicians work to complete operations before propellant load occurs ahead of launch for NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2024. NASA/Kim Shiflett NASA’s Europa Clipper mission moves closer to launch as technicians worked on Wednesday, Sept. 11, inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility to prepare the spacecraft for upcoming propellant loading at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The spacecraft will explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, which is considered one of the most promising habitable environments in the solar system. The mission will research whether Europa’s subsurface ocean could hold the conditions necessary for life. Europa could have all the “ingredients” for life as we know it: water, organics, and chemical energy.
Europa Clipper’s launch period opens on Thursday, Oct. 10. It will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A. The spacecraft then will embark on a journey of nearly six years and 1.8 billion miles before reaching Jupiter’s orbit in 2030.
The spacecraft is designed to study Europa’s icy shell, underlying ocean, and potential plumes of water vapor using a gravity science experiment alongside a suite of nine instruments including cameras, spectrometers, a magnetometer, and ice-penetrating radar. The data Europa Clipper collects could improve our understanding of the potential for life elsewhere in the solar system.
Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
View the full article
-
-
-
By NASA
NASA/Frank Michaux On Aug. 21, 2024, engineers and technicians deployed and tested NASA’s Europa Clipper giant solar arrays. Each array measures about 46.5 feet (14.2 meters) long and about 13.5 feet (4.1 meters) high.
Europa Clipper is scheduled to launch Oct. 10, 2024, on the first mission to conduct a detailed science investigation of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Scientists predict Europa has a salty ocean beneath its icy crust that could hold the building blocks necessary to sustain life.
Learn how this spacecraft’s solar arrays will power flybys.
Image credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
View the full article
-
By NASA
This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter. The mission is targeting an Oct. 10, 2024, launch. NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA will host a news conference at 11 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 17, at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to discuss the upcoming Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.
The briefing will be open to media and will air live on NASA+ and the agency’s website, plus Facebook, X, and YouTube. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
Participants in the news conference include:
Gina DiBraccio, acting director, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters Jordan Evans, project manager, Europa Clipper, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Bonnie Buratti, deputy project scientist, Europa Clipper, JPL Stuart Hill, propulsion module delivery manager, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Armando Piloto, senior mission manager, NASA’s Launch Services Program To ask questions by phone, members of the media must RSVP no later than two hours before the start of the event to Rexana Vizza at: rexana.v.vizza@jpl.nasa.gov.
Members of the news media from the U.S. and non-designated countries who are interested in covering the event in person at JPL must arrange access in advance by contacting Rexana Vizza at: rexana.v.vizza@jpl.nasa.gov no later than 3 p.m. EDT (12 p.m. PDT) on Thursday, Sept. 12. Media representatives must provide one form of government-issued photo identification. Non-U.S. citizens will need to bring a passport or a green card. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.
Questions can be asked on social media during the briefing using the hashtag #AskNASA.
Europa is one of the most promising places in our solar system to find an environment suitable for life beyond Earth. Evidence suggests that the ocean beneath Europa’s icy surface could contain the ingredients for life — water, the right chemistry, and energy. While Europa Clipper is not a life-detection mission, it will answer key questions about the moon’s potential habitability.
Europa Clipper’s launch period opens on Thursday, Oct. 10. The spacecraft, the largest NASA has ever built for a planetary mission, will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The main spacecraft body was designed by APL in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, manages the launch service for the Europa Clipper spacecraft.
To learn more about Europa Clipper, visit:
https://europa.nasa.gov
-end-
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
Val Gratias / Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-318-2141 / 818-393-6215
valerie.m.gratias@jpl.nasa.gov / gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov
View the full article
-
-
Check out these Videos
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.