(Illustration of NASA's Clipper mission / NASA/JPL Caltech)
NASA has selected SpaceX's super-heavy launch vehicle Falcon Heavy to replace the SLS rocket to launch the new Europa Clipper spacecraft.
The mission will be sent in October 2024 to study Jupiter's icy moon Europa, according to NASA's website.
Europa Clipper will explore Europa, a large icy moon of Jupiter with a global subsurface ocean that is kept liquid by tidal forces from the gas giant.
Due to cracks in the crust, geysers have been repeatedly observed on the satellite, and hydrothermal processes can take place at its bottom, which can create favorable conditions for the development of microbiological life.
The device will map the surface of Europa, determine the composition and thickness of the ice crust, as well as the composition and properties of the ocean.
The station will be equipped with two solar panels and nine instruments: a magnetometer, dust and plasma analyzers, radar, spectrographs, spectrometers and cameras.
Currently, the creation and testing of Europa Clipper elements is underway, and the assembly of the station into a single whole and complex tests will begin next year.
Initially, Congress ordered NASA to send the Europa Clipper using the Space Launch System (SLS), a two-stage super-heavy launch vehicle now under development
However, the high cost of such a launch and the complexity of creating a rocket led the agency to abandon SLS earlier this year.
After that, NASA began searching for another launch vehicle among space companies.
Now, the agency announced that it had selected the SpaceX's Falcon Heavy super-heavy rocket to launch the Europa Clipper into space.
The launch is scheduled to take place in October 2024 from the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center.
The total amount of the launch contract was about $178 million.
After launch, the station is expected to make a gravity assist maneuver near Mars in February 2025, near Earth in December 2026 and arrive at Jupiter in April 2030.
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