An extended-awaited mission to Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter, is on monitor to launch in only a few weeks. (Story aired on All Issues Thought-about on Sept. 17, 2024.)
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NASA is on the point of launch a spacecraft to Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter. It is thought-about to be top-of-the-line locations within the photo voltaic system to search for life. NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce experiences.
NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE: Europa was found in 1610 by the well-known astronomer Galileo. A whole bunch of years later, a NASA spacecraft named after him flew by this moon and revealed that beneath its icy crust, it appeared to have an ocean of liquid water.
BONNIE BURATTI: We’re fairly sure that the components for all times exist on Europa, however we have now to go there to seek out out.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Bonnie Buratti is the deputy undertaking scientist for this NASA mission, known as Europa Clipper. She says the moon’s floor is crisscrossed with mysterious darkish streaks and a so-called chaos terrain of jumbled ridges and cracks.
BURATTI: Which will give proof for interactions with the worldwide ocean down under.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Manner down under. The moon’s crust of ice may very well be over 10 miles thick. The ocean under that may very well be greater than 60 miles deep. If there’s any life on Europa, it is probably hidden beneath all of that. That is why Buratti and her colleagues do not anticipate to truly discover life.
BURATTI: We’re in search of chemical substances on the floor – natural chemical substances which can be the precursors to life.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Throughout a press briefing, NASA officers mentioned every thing is on monitor to launch Europa Clipper on Oct. 10. The journey to Jupiter is about 1.8 billion miles, a voyage that can take greater than 5 years. Undertaking supervisor Jordan Evans says as soon as it will get there, the spacecraft will fly by Europa dozens of occasions.
JORDAN EVANS: And to be clear, we’re not touchdown on Europa. We do get as shut as 25 kilometers above the floor. That is about 16 miles.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: The radiation there’s intense. He says throughout every flyby…
EVANS: The floor of the spacecraft is uncovered to the equal of some million chest X-rays. And but the Europa Clipper devices need to be delicate sufficient to collect the essential info that scientists must study in regards to the moon.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: The spacecraft additionally wants to deal with the shortage of daylight thus far out. Its twin photo voltaic panels are every over 45 toes lengthy and almost 15 toes excessive, making this the largest interplanetary spacecraft that NASA has ever constructed. As soon as its mission is over, it’s going to crash-land on one other Jupiter moon, Ganymede.
Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR Information.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SPACE GIRL”)
FRANCES FOREVER: (Singing) Area woman.
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