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| Countdown to mission hunting alien life on a distant moon | Countdown to mission hunting alien life on a distant moon |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| The spacecraft has been developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California | The spacecraft has been developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California |
| In a few hours, a spacecraft should blast-off from Florida on the hunt for signs of alien life. | In a few hours, a spacecraft should blast-off from Florida on the hunt for signs of alien life. |
| Its destination is Europa, a deeply mysterious moon orbiting the distant planet Jupiter. | |
| Trapped under its icy surface could be a vast ocean with double the amount of water on Earth. | Trapped under its icy surface could be a vast ocean with double the amount of water on Earth. |
| The Europa Clipper spacecraft will chase a European mission that left last year, but using a cosmic piggyback, it will overtake and arrive first. | The Europa Clipper spacecraft will chase a European mission that left last year, but using a cosmic piggyback, it will overtake and arrive first. |
| That won’t be until 2030 but what it finds could change what we know about life in our solar system. | That won’t be until 2030 but what it finds could change what we know about life in our solar system. |
| A moon five times brighter than ours | A moon five times brighter than ours |
| Years in the making, the Europa Clipper launch was delayed at the last minute after hurricane Milton blasted Florida this week. | Years in the making, the Europa Clipper launch was delayed at the last minute after hurricane Milton blasted Florida this week. |
| The spacecraft was rushed indoors for shelter, but after checking the launchpad at Cape Canaveral for damage, engineers have now given the go-ahead for lift-off at 1206 local time (1706 BST) on 14 October. | The spacecraft was rushed indoors for shelter, but after checking the launchpad at Cape Canaveral for damage, engineers have now given the go-ahead for lift-off at 1206 local time (1706 BST) on 14 October. |
| “If we discover life so far away from the Sun, it would imply a separate origin of life to the Earth,” says Mark Fox-Powell, a planetary microbiologist at the Open University. | “If we discover life so far away from the Sun, it would imply a separate origin of life to the Earth,” says Mark Fox-Powell, a planetary microbiologist at the Open University. |
| “That is hugely significant, because if that happens twice in our solar system, it could mean life is really common,” he says. | “That is hugely significant, because if that happens twice in our solar system, it could mean life is really common,” he says. |
| Located 628 million km from Earth, Europa is just a bit bigger than our moon, but that is where the similarity ends. | Located 628 million km from Earth, Europa is just a bit bigger than our moon, but that is where the similarity ends. |
| If it was in our skies, it would shine five times brighter because the water ice would reflect much more sunlight. | If it was in our skies, it would shine five times brighter because the water ice would reflect much more sunlight. |
| Its icy crust is up to 25km thick, and sloshing beneath, there could be a vast saltwater ocean. There may also be chemicals that are the ingredients for simple life. | Its icy crust is up to 25km thick, and sloshing beneath, there could be a vast saltwater ocean. There may also be chemicals that are the ingredients for simple life. |
| The spacecraft is just longer than a professional basketball court and weighs around the same as an African elephant | The spacecraft is just longer than a professional basketball court and weighs around the same as an African elephant |
| Scientists first realised Europa might support life in the 1970s when, peering through a telescope in Arizona, they saw water ice. | Scientists first realised Europa might support life in the 1970s when, peering through a telescope in Arizona, they saw water ice. |
| Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts captured the first close-up images, and then in 1995 Nasa’s Galileo spacecraft flew past Europa taking some deeply puzzling pictures. They showed a surface riddled with dark, reddish-brown cracks, fractures that may contain salts and sulfur compounds that could support life. | |
| The Hubble space telescope has since taken pictures of what might be plumes of water ejected 100 miles (160 kilometers) above the moon’s surface | |
| But none of those missions got close enough to Europa for long enough to really understand it. | But none of those missions got close enough to Europa for long enough to really understand it. |
| Flying through plumes of water | Flying through plumes of water |
| Now scientists hope that instruments on Nasa’s Clipper spacecraft will map almost the entire moon, as well as collect dust particles and fly through the water plumes. | Now scientists hope that instruments on Nasa’s Clipper spacecraft will map almost the entire moon, as well as collect dust particles and fly through the water plumes. |
| Britney Schmidt, associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Cornell university in the US, helped to design a laser onboard that will see through the ice. | Britney Schmidt, associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Cornell university in the US, helped to design a laser onboard that will see through the ice. |
| The strange surface of Europa - captured by Galileo spacecraft in the 1990s | The strange surface of Europa - captured by Galileo spacecraft in the 1990s |
| “I'm most excited about understanding Europa’s plumbing. Where's the water? Europa has the ice version of Earth’s subduction zones, magma chambers and tectonics - we’re going to try to see into those regions and map them,” she says. | “I'm most excited about understanding Europa’s plumbing. Where's the water? Europa has the ice version of Earth’s subduction zones, magma chambers and tectonics - we’re going to try to see into those regions and map them,” she says. |
| Her instrument, which is called Reason, was tested in Antarctica. | Her instrument, which is called Reason, was tested in Antarctica. |
| But unlike on Earth, all the instruments on Clipper will be exposed to huge amounts of radiation which Prof Schmidt says is a “major concern.” | But unlike on Earth, all the instruments on Clipper will be exposed to huge amounts of radiation which Prof Schmidt says is a “major concern.” |
| The spacecraft should fly past Europa about 50 times, and each time, it will be blasted with radiation equivalent to one million X-rays. | The spacecraft should fly past Europa about 50 times, and each time, it will be blasted with radiation equivalent to one million X-rays. |
| “Much of the electronics are in a vault that's heavily shielded to keep out radiation,” Prof Schmidt explains. | “Much of the electronics are in a vault that's heavily shielded to keep out radiation,” Prof Schmidt explains. |
| The spaceship is the largest ever built to visit a planet and has a long journey ahead. Travelling 1.8 billion miles, it will orbit both the Earth and Mars to propel itself further towards Jupiter in what is called the sling-shot effect. | The spaceship is the largest ever built to visit a planet and has a long journey ahead. Travelling 1.8 billion miles, it will orbit both the Earth and Mars to propel itself further towards Jupiter in what is called the sling-shot effect. |
| Europa Clipper will travel for five and a half years to reach Jupiter | Europa Clipper will travel for five and a half years to reach Jupiter |
| It cannot carry enough fuel to motor itself all the way alone, so it will piggyback off the momentum of Earth and Mars’s gravitational pull. | It cannot carry enough fuel to motor itself all the way alone, so it will piggyback off the momentum of Earth and Mars’s gravitational pull. |
| It will overtake JUICE, the European Space Agency’s spaceship that will also visit Europa on its way to another of Jupiter’s moons called Ganeymede. | It will overtake JUICE, the European Space Agency’s spaceship that will also visit Europa on its way to another of Jupiter’s moons called Ganeymede. |
| Once Clipper approaches Europa in 2030 it will switch on its engines again to carefully manoeuvre itself into the right orbit. | Once Clipper approaches Europa in 2030 it will switch on its engines again to carefully manoeuvre itself into the right orbit. |
| The left image shows the natural appearance of Europa, and the right image uses colour to highlight the water-ice crust | The left image shows the natural appearance of Europa, and the right image uses colour to highlight the water-ice crust |
| Space scientists are very cautious when talking about the chances of discovering life- there is no expectation that they will find human-like creatures or animals | Space scientists are very cautious when talking about the chances of discovering life- there is no expectation that they will find human-like creatures or animals |
| “We are searching for the potential for habitability and you need four things - liquid water, a heat source, and organic material. Finally those three ingredients need to be stable over a long enough period of time that something can happen,” explains Michelle Dougherty, professor of space physics at Imperial College in London. | “We are searching for the potential for habitability and you need four things - liquid water, a heat source, and organic material. Finally those three ingredients need to be stable over a long enough period of time that something can happen,” explains Michelle Dougherty, professor of space physics at Imperial College in London. |
| And they hope that if they can understand the ice surface better, they will know where to land a craft on a future mission. | And they hope that if they can understand the ice surface better, they will know where to land a craft on a future mission. |
| An international team of scientists with Nasa, the Jet Propulsion Lab and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab will oversee the odyssey. | An international team of scientists with Nasa, the Jet Propulsion Lab and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab will oversee the odyssey. |
| At a time when there is a space launch virtually every week, this mission promises something different, suggests Professor Fox-Powell. | At a time when there is a space launch virtually every week, this mission promises something different, suggests Professor Fox-Powell. |
| “There's no profit being made. This is about exploration and curiosity, and pushing back the boundaries of our knowledge of our place in the universe,” he says. | “There's no profit being made. This is about exploration and curiosity, and pushing back the boundaries of our knowledge of our place in the universe,” he says. |