Following a series of tests to determine the Europa Clipper’s ability to withstand radiation, NASA has finally approved a launch date: October 10. Though an exact launch day has yet to be confirmed, the agency says it will open up launch options from that day forward.
The most recent tests the Clipper spacecraft has run through suggest that the craft is more than capable of supporting the mission’s baseline objective and that its transistors should be able to resist the radiation around Jupiter’s moon.
This new mission’s goal is to confirm whether Europa could support life below its surface. If the mission is successful, it could help spur further missions to the outer planets of our solar system. Of course, we have to actually make it to the proposed Europa Clipper launch date first.
Unfortunately, space missions this past year have not had the best luck getting off the ground on time. The upcoming Artemis missions continue to see possible delays, and some very well-regarded NASA missions have even been completely scrapped over the past several months.
Thankfully, the Europa Clipper mission doesn’t seem to be on track for any of that. And, with these latest tests out of the way, NASA should be directly on track to get things off the ground. NASA shared the most recent news in a blog post, where it didn’t reveal many other details.
Learning more about Europa will hopefully help NASA and astronomers determine just how likely life beyond our planet really is. Multiple studies suggest that we could find evidence of life beneath the moon’s icy surface, and the Europa Clipper mission will hopefully be the proof we need.
