Space
NASA’s Search for Alien Life Turns to Icy Moon of Jupiter
- Probe will investigate subsurface ocean on Jovian moon Europa
- Agency’s $5.2 billion project is scheduled to arrive in 2030
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NASA launched a $5.2 billion mission to Jupiter’s frozen moon Europa on Monday, a major step to determine if the distant world has the conditions to host life.
In a voyage more than a decade in the making, the Europa Clipper spacecraft lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Florida at 12:06 p.m. New York time. About an hour later, the rocket deployed the Clipper craft, putting the deep-space probe en route to reach Europa by 2030. Cheers and applause erupted inside mission control in California after the team started receiving data from the vehicle.