NASA’s much-awaited Europa Clipper mission is set for launch in 2024 on an exceptional exploration of one of the most fascinating bodies in the solar system-Jupiter’s moon, Europa. The spacecraft, a part of the Europa Clipper program, under the mission of finding life’s ingredients beyond Earth, will study the icy surface and subsurface ocean of the moon to find out if it can sustain life.
Fascination with Europa
Europa for many years has captivated the attention of scientists because of its extremely thick icy crust and substantial evidence proving that an ocean lies beneath. This sub-surface ocean may hold more water than all other earthly oceans combined, and therefore, it offers a possibility of microbial life on the moon.
Previous missions, including Galileo spacecraft observations and observations by the Hubble Space Telescope, had already hinted at water vapor plumes erupting from the surface of Europa, which means that material could be accessible from the subsurface ocean for study. This puts Europa on a short list of the most promising places in the solar system where life can be found.
The Europa Clipper Mission
The Europa Clipper will be powered by a rich suite of highly advanced scientific instruments designed to allow scientists to study Europa at unprecedented levels of detail. These facilities will allow science to better understand the ice shell of the moon, its subsurface ocean, and the possible exchange of materials between the surface and ocean. The mission, therefore, will be focused on three broad aims: establish whether Europa may be considered habitable, look for signs of recent activity beneath its icy surface, and determine whether the elements that are found to be necessary for life on Earth, such as water, organic compounds, and energy sources, exist in it.
During its approximately 55-orbit, multi-year journey around Jupiter, the spacecraft will make dozens of flybys over Europa and pass by as close as 16 miles (25 kilometers) above its moon surface. Equipped with high-resolution cameras, radar, spectrometers, and thermal imaging instruments, the Europa Clipper will map out the surface, figure out what the ice is made of, and measure how thick the ice shell is.
Hunting for Ingredients of Life
One of the objectives of the mission is to determine whether Europa contains those chemical elements required to subsist life—carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur. With those ingredients in an environment with liquid water, life could conceivably be sustained in the moon’s hidden ocean.
The Europa Clipper will study the ice shell of Europa to assess that layer’s habitability. Scientists are particularly interested in one question: does water from the ocean go up and reach the surface, bringing nutrient and energy-rich substances to areas where life could flourish? Other signs of new or active geological activity could also further hint at dynamic processes underneath the surface.
Bigger Picture
The Europa Clipper is a very important step for humanity, in understanding whether Earth is really a lone planet in our solar system and whether there exists life beyond Earth. Though it won’t look for life directly, it can show necessary data that may one day lead to direct missions into the ocean under the ice of Europa, using landers or subsurface probes.
A possible discovery of the mission could, of itself, lead to basic questions on how to understand the existence of life in space. If, for example, the conditions for life were found on Europa, it would lead to belief that life may exist in proportions greater than those currently perceived; however, such would not only manifest on Earth-like planets, but icy moons with subsurface oceans.
Conclusion
NASA’s Europa Clipper mission has high potential to alter humanity’s views of habitability in the solar system. The spacecraft will study Europa closely, examining life on the distant moon by looking at the hidden ocean and analyzing the icy surface. “As the mission is getting ready for launch, many are wondering about the surprises in store for one of the most highly ambitious planetary science missions ever undertaken.“.
