Highlights from the Oct. 14, 2024, launch of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will travel 1.8 billion miles to study Jupiter’s ocean moon Europa. The spacecraft lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:06 p.m. EDT (9:06 a.m. PDT).
Europa Clipper is NASA’s first mission dedicated to studying Europa, which likely has a salty ocean beneath its icy surface. The spacecraft is equipped with nine science instruments and a gravity experiment. The mission’s main goal is to determine whether Europa has the right conditions to support life.
Europa Clipper will arrive at Jupiter in 2030 and make 49 flybys of Europa during its prime mission, which concludes in 2034.
Europa Clipper is NASA’s first mission dedicated to studying Europa, which likely has a salty ocean beneath its icy surface. The spacecraft is equipped with nine science instruments and a gravity experiment. The mission’s main goal is to determine whether Europa has the right conditions to support life.
Europa Clipper will arrive at Jupiter in 2030 and make 49 flybys of Europa during its prime mission, which concludes in 2034.
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LearningTranscript
00:00Live at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for NASA's Europa Clipper mission, a nearly two billion
00:06mile, five and a half year journey to Jupiter's icy ocean moon.
00:11And liftoff!
00:13Liftoff of Falcon Heavy with Europa Clipper, unveiling the mysteries of an enormous ocean
00:20lurking beneath the icy crust of Jupiter's moon, Europa.
00:24Side booster separation confirmed.
00:31Bearing is separated and those will be recovered by SpaceX's own recovery ship, Go Cosmos.
00:40This is a big moment for the program, for NASA, APL, and JPL.
00:46Let's watch.
00:47Europa Clipper separation confirmed.
00:50And there you go.
00:52NASA's Europa Clipper probe embarking on a long-awaited mission to study Jupiter's icy
00:58moon, Europa.
00:59And what a sight.
01:01Now they wait for acquisition of signal.
01:05I believe we have it.
01:07There it is.
01:10Confirmation of signal from the spacecraft, Europa Clipper.
01:22NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology