NASA Sends Massive Spacecraft to Jupiter’s Moon Europa in Search of Extraterrestrial Habitability

Amaze Lab

Jupiter’s moon Europa isa wild place. It’s an ice-covered world, however experts believe that underneath that frozen exterior is a vast ocean. And that’s why it just might be the best place out in the Solar System to look for life and that’s what this mission is hoping to discover.

Transcript

00:00Jupiter's moon Europa is a wild place.

00:06It's an ice-covered world.

00:07However, experts believe that underneath that frozen exterior is a vast liquid ocean.

00:12And that's why it just might be the best place out in the solar system to look for life.

00:17And that's what this mission is hoping to discover.

00:19On October 14th, NASA launched the Europa Clipper, a robotic solar-powered spacecraft.

00:24It will now spend the next five plus years traveling some 1.8 billion miles.

00:29Eventually entering an orbit around Jupiter with Europa in 2030.

00:33Europa Clipper is the largest NASA spacecraft to ever be sent to investigate a planetary

00:37body, stretching 100 feet tall and 58 feet wide.

00:41Meaning with its solar arrays fully extended, Europa Clipper is bigger than a basketball

00:45court.

00:46The spacecraft also weighs in at around 13,000 pounds, which is why they employed a SpaceX

00:51Falcon Heavy to get the whole thing off-world.

00:54The solar array will power nine scientific instruments, specifically designed to investigate

00:58whether or not Europa could potentially harbor life.

01:01Jupiter's massive size produces a significant gravitational pull on Europa, causing it to

01:06flex and deform.

01:07This tidal flexing produces heat, which experts say likely means a salty liquid ocean could

01:12be hiding under its frozen exterior.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended