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NASA launches mission to explore the frozen frontier of Jupiter’s moon Europa


“We’re interested in whether Europa could support simple life—single-celled organisms.”…

NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft lifted off Monday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, kicking off a $5.2 billion robotic mission to explore one of the most promising locations in the Solar System for finding extraterrestrial life. Delayed several days due to Hurricane Milton, which passed through Central Florida late last week, the launch of Europa Clipper signaled the start of a five-and-a-half year journey to Jupiter, where the spacecraft will settle into an orbit taking it repeatedly by one the giant planet's numerous moons. A mass spectrometer is mounted on the front of the probe to sniff gases in the moon's faint atmosphere, or potentially sample material from a plume shooting high above Europa, if scientists are lucky enough to guide the spacecraft through one.

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