NASA has unveiled the largest spacecraft the U.S. agency has ever built for a planetary mission. The Europa Clipper is set to launch in October with the goal of finding conditions that could sustain life on one of dozens of moons orbiting Jupiter.
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00:00 Sealed in a clean room in California, NASA's new $5 billion U.S. space probe called Europa
00:09 Clipper. It's the largest spacecraft NASA has ever built for a planetary mission and
00:15 is due to launch in October with the goal of finding conditions that could sustain life
00:19 here. Europa, one of dozens of moons orbiting Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system.
00:27 We have a five and a half year trajectory that goes from Kennedy in Florida to Jupiter.
00:32 Once we arrive it's about six months to get into a harmonious orbit with Europa and then
00:37 four years for our primary science mission. So ten years of flight once we launch.
00:41 NASA expects Clipper to reach Europa's orbit by 2031. It will then study a moon that has
00:48 tantalized scientists for decades. Since the 1970s, they have suspected its icy outer shell
00:55 hid a liquid water ocean beneath. Today, scientists say Europa could have double the amount of
01:01 water of all of Earth's oceans. And the moon is one of the most promising places in the
01:07 solar system to look for extraterrestrial life.
01:11 One of the fundamental questions that NASA wants to understand is are we alone in the
01:20 cosmos? If we were to find the conditions for life then that would say, hey in our own
01:27 solar system there are two examples of life, Earth and Europa.
01:32 NASA says that if life could form in two places in our solar system, then it's likely to exist
01:38 across our galaxy and beyond. But this latest probe doesn't have the tools to test for life
01:45 itself on Europa. And project leaders say that's not the goal of the mission. This mission
01:51 is focused on finding out whether Europa could sustain life.
01:57 There won't be any little green men floating in Europa's oceans. But the discovery of anything
02:03 living there at all would open a whole new chapter in space exploration.
02:08 John Su and Joyce Sun for Taiwan Plus.
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