Why Does NASA Want to Explore Jupiter’s Ocean Moon? (Europa Clipper Science Overview)

Everywhere there’s water on Earth, there’s life. Does that hold true elsewhere in our solar system? NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will investigate Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, which - with its subsurface ocean - is one of the most promising places in our solar system to find environments capable of supporting life.
While Europa Clipper isn’t a life-detection mission, it will be the first to conduct a detailed survey of this icy moon to answer questions about Europa’s potential habitability and composition. The mission’s main goals are to determine the thickness of Europa’s icy shell; confirm the presence of an ocean; investigate the make-up of that ocean; and characterize the geology of the surface. The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter and make approximately 50 flybys of Europa. It’s equipped with a powerful suite of instruments that will work in sync to gather measurements and high-resolution images.
Europa Clipper is expected to launch in October 2024 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will arrive at the Jupiter system in 2030.
For more information on the mission go to: europa.nasa.gov/.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/APL

[@MikeMcNanners]

Europa is probably my favorite celestial body in our solar system. Can't wait for further research!

[@LucasFerreira-gx9yh]

Mine is Titan, cant wait for the dragonfly mission

[@Lorraines3DPrints]

I'm so excited for this mission. The mind runs wild with the what , if and buts

[@jokerace8227]

It's these kind of robotic missions that are worth funding. Let the billionaire fly boys figure out how to make manned spaceflight to the Moon and beyond practical, while NASA focuses on robotic gathering of scientific data about the Solar System.

[@seriousmaran9414]

Any large black blocks, just leave them alone...

[@pimpernel666]

Easy there, Clovis I.

[@quatermass8]

Outstanding !

[@privatecaller1418]

Other energies worse than black blobs

[@privatecaller1418]

Movies ...many warnings

[@RebeccaEdwardsJamesEdwards]

Awesome project that I hope reaps a treasure trove of beneficial data & new discoveries!

[@AndieEaton]

Wish there was a way to use ultrasonic waves to further gather information. As a Sonographer, that would be very interesting to see how that would work in space and what information we would get. Especially with an area comprised of a lot of water.

[@treypeters1087]

Sound needs a medium, and space is a vaccuum- light on the other hand doesn't, so maybe take the principals of sonar and apply them with lasers

[@RealAnimeBadGuy]

Careful on Europa, you might run into the Fallen

[@JBinFL]

Tell Mithraks hi.

[@ALMarkAZ1990]

Can't wait for those Vex constructs pictures from up close.

[@C.Y.123]

Omg! Darius Rucker is working on the Europa mission? Talk about multi talented.

[@TransVangal]

Isn't Enceladus like Europa too?

[@thisyhis7698]

yea both have a subsurface ocean! Enceladus is a personal fav of mine

[@pimpernel666]

Just Saturn’s version!

[@enehkim3337]

Enceladus has geysers that indicate currents in the ocean, Europa is completely ice-locked and also has currents in the ocean due to plate tectonic system. Enceladus doesn't have any (known) plate tectonic movements, Europa has something going on with ice plates, rather than Earth's rock plates. Both have oceans (potentially salty) and may support life. Hope this helps.

[@quatermass8]

Europa is much much older than Enceladus.

[@JackMack465]

Excitement is building! It's going to be tough waiting to see all the data and pictures that we'll be getting! So much science to learn from this mission with so many "firsts" for Europa Clipper. Thank you to everyone at JPL for their hard work in getting the spacecraft ready for its journey and mission.

[@IbnBahtuta]

Meanwhile back on planet earth we are closer to a nuclear war now than in the last 50 years, we have the Jews and the Americans to thank for those weapons being created in the first place, and they used them twice on civilian populations some of them were christians. Space cadets, always need to be brought back down to earth. smh

[@excalibur7969]

Lo increíble es que tan solo hace 150 años nos moviamos a caballo y se dudaba que el hombre pudiera superar la velocidad del tren. Mis respetos a esas brillantes mentes que hacen y harán posible tales misiones. 😊

[@IsabellaIsabella-mc1tx]

Will be very interesting and important. I think will be wonderful surprise this mission! ❤❤❤

[@C.Y.123]

If there's life on Europa, there's life everywhere

[@matthewhenson2421]

To Europa and beyond!!❤❤

[@h7opolo]

fly, superman (Europa Clipper), fly

[@champagnerocker]

Exploration and study of the Galilean moons plus Enceladus & Titan should be getting the big bucks funding. It certainly should be a bigger priority than Mars which has had 4 US and 1 Chinese rovers landed on it this century.

[@willykang1293]

Yeah, I wanna know about gravity when you talked about its magnetic field…👍

[@pedrodelaluna4326]

Very nice work!!! Hope you see life . maybe something will come out of the vent and land on the surface for everyone to see.

[@nevillepass]

Ahaa !Europa, I see!😁👍🥶❄️

[@pdhosta5099]

❤ excited for europa

[@joankonkle6972]

I am very glad to hear we are going to do all this. I just wish we wouldn't have to wait so long for any answers. 5/15/24

[@k9m42]

If there is fish in that ocean, I would love to taste it.

[@Ch0senJuan]

You must be Asian, or white.

[@GenericUsername1388]

I wasn't expecting it to take until 2030 😢

[@raidermaxx2324]

CANNOT WAIT!!!

[@existenceisillusion6528]

The only downside is that we have to wait 6 years for the science to get started.

[@mathworld3761]

Hope successful.

[@rudyskrew]

this is why i follo nasa, even if it doesnt get the craziest view, i love you guys and everything you teach us

[@Super-J10]

Why no probe ???

[@user-rf7ty9vu6o]

The arrival process takes approximately two years for current missiles to reach it, and when humans are present in these missiles, the journey may take dozens of years, so I do not think the planet will be chosen for further research

[@NicholasNerios]

Europa fish... would they be edible??

[@TheMoonsOfJupiter]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/q5i3o5-amKmMpLM 🌙✨

[@vishnudevm5629]

Why not Saturns' Enceladus NASA or Triton @NASA

[@rsingh1252]

Drop a probe like on venus

[@xgjgxoycdfgghuggf]

Life on mars 12to 18 hours a day diging holes shifting sand for rock fossils

[@spacevspitch4028]

"On Europa, we're not looking for life itself. We're just looking for an environment in which life could thrive." It's always that and never actually looking for life. It's like they're afraid to directly look for life. Like, why not go straight for the juggular?

[@Rmm1722]

Cool 🆒

[@justin8894]

Darmok on the ocean.

[@aminkhandrishak6045]

🌳❤🌱❤🌳

[@MicrobiusBlue]

Why wouldn't you want to explore Europa

[@x15973]

Why not fly (lower orbit) your equipment through a few water plumes and collect samples?

[@TheStockwell]

1:28 So far, there's no evidence of water plumes. That's why not. There's no point in flying through them until we know if there are any. Best wishes from Vermont 🍁

[@privatecaller1418]

Better watch movie 2001

[@mrbbqcraig]

The most asked question we have isn't.... " Mummy, can I have that ❓" It's..... " Is there life out there somewhere ❓" That's going to be an amazing mission 💕🤟✨

[@alcam14]

It's going to take 6 years to get there. That's a long time.

[@IbnBahtuta]

Yes, you are right, it is six years. smh

[@IbnBahtuta]

Well as long as the American taxpayer is footing the bill, the sky's not the limit.

[@TheStockwell]

What's bugging you now? 🙄

[@Hellbender8574]

I 💙 Europa. Also hope there's things living on it 🦠

[@AnuwktootLee-yf9ff]

Pyar karo Damian se

[@rudyskrew]

omg :)

[@user-yo8jx3bi2w]

لا إله إلا الله ايها الانسان مهما ابتكرت لا يفيدك علمك ما زالت الفرصة مفتوحة باب التوبة مفتوح اغتنم الوقت اذا دخلت دين الإسلام نجحت نجاح باهر ومصيرك جنات ونعيم ؟

[@TheStockwell]

Go away, troll. 🙄

[@RahulDasgupta-mf8qq]

PhD

[@raywhitehead730]

No more money.

[@numerouno8593]

Talk about lust. What does it mean if you don't have money... ridiculous, NASA has been getting ridiculous lately...

[@cxa24]

To waste your money

[@TheStockwell]

Yeah, that half a percent of the Federal budget which NASA has to run ALL its programs with is a waste of your precious tax dollars - unlike the bloated and uncontrolled military budget which has enriched our lives so much. 🙄

[@aabbcc5154]

Get off the tax payer gravy train JPL. Did you watch the NASA flight to space ship?