Europa Clipper spacecraft will travel to Jupiter's icy satellite to search for aliens

In the coming weeks, NASA will launch the Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter's satellite Europa. This icy satellite may contain signs of extraterrestrial life.

Here's What We Know

Europa Clipper will be the largest planetary exploration spacecraft built by NASA, with a mass of about 6,000 kilograms and a solar panel spread comparable to a basketball court.

The main goal of the mission is to study Europa's surface and subglacial ocean in detail. The spacecraft is equipped with nine scientific instruments, including cameras, spectrometers and thermal imagers that will help investigate the geological activity, chemical composition and temperature of the satellite's surface. Special attention will be paid to finding possible habitats for life beneath Europa's icy crust, as there is an ocean of liquid water there.

The mission will also measure the depth and salinity of the ocean, the thickness of the ice shell and analyse gases in the satellite's atmosphere. Europa Clipper is expected to reach Jupiter more than 5 years after launch. While the mission is not designed to detect life, it will set the stage for future studies that can explore Europa in more detail.

Source: Space