Europa Clipper, NASA’s largest spacecraft, finalizes details for its historic trip to Jupiter’s icy moon

THE ANGELS- The spacecraft, 5 meters high and 30.5 meters wide, will investigate in detail Europa, one of Jupiter’s best-known moons covered in a thick layer of ice and with an internal ocean twice as large as the whole of Earth’s oceans.

“What interests us is knowing if there is a possibility that a type of life exists (on Jupiter’s moon)“Tim Larson, deputy director of the Europa Clipper Project at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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This laboratory, located in Pasadena (California), has allowed EFE access to the ‘clean room’, where it is located Europa Clipper and you have to enter with special clothing, without any type of lotion or makeup so as not to contaminate the ship, which looks like a Hollywood set.

It is believed that Europa houses the three elements – liquid water, the necessary chemistry and a source of energy – essential for life to develop and be maintained..

Larson warns that Although Europa Clipper is not a life detection mission as such, Understanding the habitability of Jupiter’s moon will help better understand how life developed on Earth and the potential to find it beyond our planet..

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The long road to Jupiter Started in 2013, dozens of scientists who have worked on its development have joined the mission and have celebrated that the ship recently passed its design tests; and she is getting ready to be sent in May to the Kennedy Space Center, in central Florida, where she will finish assembling. She equipped with nine powerful scientific instruments, Europa Clipper is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on October 10.

It will take the spacecraft at least five and a half years to travel 2.9 billion kilometers and reach Jupiter, and another year to adjust its orbit and begin its studies in 2030, according to NASA estimates..

Space engineer Ricardo Restrepo, who is part of the team that designed the ship’s route, explained to EFE that this It will orbit Jupiter and “periodically make flybys over Europa” to take the data, which it will send to Earth days later, while taking the opportunity to charge its solar panels..

The mission is expected to perform 50 flybys of the Jupiter moon over a four-year period. I do not rule out that the ship could extend its investigation as happened to the Galileo missionthat explored the frozen surface of Europe more than 20 years ago.

Restrepo is confident that Europa Clipper will achieve its goal because it is highly capable and radiation tolerant. “It is the most complex, most expensive, and largest ever built.”he emphasizes.

THE PORTAL OF LIFE

The expectation about the mission is not only for the scientific discoveries that can be achieved, but for its meaning for humanity. “We are going to go for the first time as humans exclusively to look for life outside of Earth.“, says Restrepo, of Colombian origin.

That is why the Europa Clipper will carry a message on a plate engraved on both sides that includes the poem ‘In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europe’, by the award-winning writer of Mexican roots..

Ada Limón, which encourages you to appreciate and explore the mysteries of the Earth that unite you in the face of the immensity of the Universe. It also contains visual representations of the sound waves formed by the word ‘water’ in 103 languages, which integrate indigenous languages ​​and sign language..

In addition, it will have a ‘bottle’ with the name of more than two million people, who joined a campaign to celebrate the mission.

“This ship is not going to represent NASA or a few engineers, but humanity itself”Remarks Restrepo.

By Ana Milena Varón, Agencia EFE.