We're About to Visit the Second Best Place for Life

This October, the launch window opens for NASA's Europa Clipper mission. When it arrives in the Jovian system, this spacecraft will probe the icy moon...and its ocean buried kilometers beneath the surface...for the ingredients of life as we know it.

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[krystalreverb]

In elementary school, we were instructed to make up a creature that would live on a distant planet. I was assigned Jupiter. Now, Jupiter is a gas giant and I couldn’t think of anything to fit that… but Europa, I could work with. So I made a cross between a penguin, an otter, and a fish, called it the Fishguin, and made it able to swim through the icy waters of Europa’s oceans and be able to break through the ice and breathe underwater. I also made the damn thing out of a sock, a bunch of sand, and paper mache. It was the proudest moment of my childhood and I got an A on that assignment. My dad helped come up with the idea, and also helped me research Europa to make it work.

[paulkinzer]

I'm old enough (64) to realize just what a fantastic age of exploration we're living in. Europa Clipper is just ONE of the amazing missions actually going forward right now. Juice, Psyche, and the more distant (in a few ways) mission that will put a helicopter on Titan (!) would each be an epochal mission on their own, and they're all happening very soon. And those are just some examples. Both space and earth-bound telescopes of ever larger size are being not just planned, but actually built, at a rate that puts the rest of history in the dust.

Cool times!

[billkallas]

My Daughter-in-law works for JPL and is involved in this program. She'll be down there for the launch, next month.

[Ze_Austin]

Six-year transit plans. What a time to be alive

[amon_]

for anyone wondering what the real units of length, area and mass are:
mass: 3241kg
"wing" span: 30.5m
area of solar panels: 116, 4m²

[Rebar_real]

Did you know Europa Clipper has a live stream build cam in the clean room on YouTube? "Live From Kennedy Space Center – Europa Clipper Cam" Cheers!

[Your_Paramour]

For anyone wondering, the visuals from 3:03 are from a short film called CASSINI'S GRAND FINALE by Erik Wernquist that was commisioned by JPL. He also a similar short film called Wanderers which is set to Carl Sagan's narration which is equally beautiful.

[matthewsmith]

It's kind of wild that it's apparently 2+ years FASTER to send a probe all the way to Mars, then back to Earth, and then on to Jupiter; than it is to just launch one straight at Jupiter.

Physics, man.

[Danratman]

Fingers crossed something, anything, is found of significance, a fresh spark of excitement and hope is needed to propel space exploration foward. In my opinion

[TheSleepSteward]

Oh my god. When he said NASA representative I thought we were just sacrificing some poor intern into space.

[mattsloan]

“ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS, EXCEPT EUROPA.
ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE.
USE THEM TOGETHER. USE THEM IN PEACE.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, 2010: Odyssey Two

[dignelberrt]

I've been looking forward to this mission since it was first made public. I love Europa and I'm excited to see what we learn from the Clipper (in 6 years)

[ronkirk]

'The Europa Report' was a great Sci fi movie, but I think it is a long shot that we will find signs of life there.

[DwainDwight]

Europa Report is a great movie. criminally underrated.

[ashleydolin]

This is such an exciting mission. So much we may discover.

[isaiasabinadisosagarcia]

Oh Man i really hope they find something that'll make them want to send a lander there

[RachelsSweetie]

Some of my best friends are from Europa.

[aamirrazak]

The clipper mission seems super promising, can’t wait to see what new information it uncovers about Europa!

[LetsTakeWalk]

I really hope they find life outside of Earth in my lifetime. Would be an almost religious experience I’d imagine.

[MelliaBoomBot]

I watched a BBC documentary yesterday about the Antarctic..under the ice it was much warmer too...the life was incredible!