An artist’s concept of the Europa Clipper spacecraft above Jupiter’s moon Europa.

Photo by Kevin Gill, CC by 2.0 on Flickr

By Madison Fung

Have you ever wondered if life is possible beyond Earth within our solar system? Europa, the fourth largest of Jupiter’s 94 moons, might be the key to this mystery. Evidence suggests that a saltwater ocean – double the volume of Earth’s oceans combined – lies beneath the icy shell of the moon. Scientists believe that Europa satisfies the three essential conditions for life: an abundance of water, crucial chemical elements, like carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, as well as chemical reactions that act as sources of energy. This means that it could potentially be home to various life forms, such as microbes. 

To investigate the habitability of Europa, NASA launched the Europa Clipper in Florida on October 14, 2024. With its antennas and solar arrays fully deployed, the Europa Clipper is approximately 30.5 metres in length and 17.6 metres in width, making it the largest NASA spacecraft built for a planetary mission in history. It has been installed with advanced scientific equipment for accurate measurement, including radars to determine the thickness of Europa’s outer ice layer and infrared-wavelength imagers to capture the intricate surface of the moon. To prepare for the mission, the spacecraft will first conduct space manoeuvres to ensure that all equipment is working properly. In due course, it will arrive at Europa in 2030 to initiate a 4-year exploration and conduct a total of 49 fly-bys across the surface of the moon.

However, the journey to Europa is not without its challenges. Jupiter has an extremely powerful magnetic field that is around “20,000 times stronger than Earth’s”, which means that it creates powerful radiation that could cause serious damage to the spacecraft. Sandra Connelly, deputy associate administrator of NASA’s science mission directorate, states that “one of the Europa Clipper mission’s main challenges is delivering a spacecraft hardy enough to withstand the pummelling of radiation from Jupiter but also sensitive enough to gather the measurements needed to investigate Europa’s environment.” As a solution, NASA plans for the spacecraft to travel in an elliptical orbit, so as to avoid coming in contact with the radiation belts of Jupiter. 

If the mission finds Europa to be habitable, it will lead to many new possibilities for discovering the existence of life in other solar systems that have similar icy environments. NASA associate administrator Jim Free says that scientific findings from Europa “will have profound implications for the study of astrobiology and how we view our place in the universe”.  The possibility of habitable environments on other astrological bodies is greatly significant to the search of life beyond Earth. Who knows? Perhaps, a hidden world awaits us within the watery depths of this fascinating moon, just waiting to be discovered.

Works Cited

NASA. “Europa: Facts.” NASA Science, https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/moons/europa/europa-facts/. Accessed 17 October 2024.

Reuters, Thomson. “Can Jupiter’s ice-covered moon host life? After delay, NASA’s finally sent spacecraft to Europa to find out.” CBC, 14 October 2024, https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/europa-nasa-launch-1.7351928. Accessed 17 October 2024.Witz, Alexandra. “Is there life on Jupiter’s moon Europa? NASA launches mission to find hints.” Nature, 14 Oct 2024, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03225-4. Accessed 17 Oct 2024.