WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Next month, NASA will launch a spacecraft which will help scientists determine if one of Jupiter's icy moons could support life.
NASA said the Europa Clipper mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the U.S. space agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA is targeting a launch period opening on October 10.
Europa Clipper will carry nine instruments and a gravity science experiment aboard to gather detailed measurements as it orbits Jupiter and conducts multiple close flybys of its moon, Europa. Research suggests an ocean twice the volume of all of Earth's oceans exists under Europa's icy crust.
Clipper's primary scientific goal is to determine whether there are places below the surface of Europa that could support life. The mission's three main science objectives are to understand the nature of the ice shell and the ocean beneath it, along with the moon's composition and geology. The mission's detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond earth.
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