What's happened
NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft is set to launch on October 10, 2024, after engineers confirmed that its transistors can withstand Jupiter's radiation. The mission aims to explore Europa's potential for life beneath its icy surface, with a series of flybys planned over the next six years.
Why it matters
What the papers say
According to Ars Technica, NASA's Jordan Evans expressed high confidence in the transistors' performance, stating, "We can complete the original mission for exploring Europa as planned." The Independent highlighted the urgency of the mission, noting that the spacecraft must launch within a tight window to utilize gravity assists from Mars and Earth. The New York Times emphasized the mission's potential to uncover vital information about extraterrestrial life, marking it as a significant step in planetary exploration.
How we got here
Concerns about the reliability of the Europa Clipper's transistors arose earlier this year, prompting extensive testing. The spacecraft, which will investigate Europa's subsurface ocean, is crucial for understanding potential extraterrestrial life.
More on these topics
-
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. Federal Government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and space research.
-
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. According to radiometric dating estimation and other evidence, Earth formed over 4.5 billion years ago.
-
Asteroids are minor planets, especially of the inner Solar System. Larger asteroids have also been called planetoids. These terms have historically been applied to any astronomical object orbiting the Sun that did not resolve into a disc in a telescope an
-
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Situated in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of about 7,641 islands that are broadly categorized under three main geographical divisions from
-
Europa, or Jupiter II, is the smallest of the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter, and the sixth-closest to the planet of all the 79 known moons of Jupiter. It is also the sixth-largest moon in the Solar System.
-
Europa Clipper is an interplanetary mission in development by NASA comprising an orbiter. Planned for launch in October 2024, the spacecraft is being developed to study the Galilean moon Europa through a series of flybys while in orbit around Jupiter.