Mission to Europa Takes off Today!

Video Credit- V101 Space, YouTube 2024

The Europa Clipper, NASA's mission to Europa, took off today and will arrive in 2030 to look for life.

This is an exciting mission to the icy Moon Europa is a moon of Jupiter that is covered in ice, and it is theorized that a vast ocean exists underneath a sheet of ice. The vast ocean could have the building blocks or life, and an energy source in the form of tidal flexing could provide a birthplace of life there.

Tidal flexing may supply energy required for the formation of life, and the moon Europa is approximately 4.5 billion years old, giving it plenty of time for life to have developed and evolved there. The mission to Europa will gather information about this intriguing moon and the atmosphere and surface will be probed for signs.

I am excited to see the results of this mission, and realize it will take approximately 6-years for the Clipper to arrive there. I am excited to see any signs of life, and was intrigued to learn that CO2 was detected at the surface of the moon and have seen photos of water plumes and geysers. Life on Europa would be something to see. What would it look like? Could it be similar to jellyfish and kelp or dolphins and ancient dinosaurs. Time will tell.