The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will launch a spacecraft to Jupiter's moon Europa no earlier than October 14 to determine whether there are conditions for life there.
As follows from a publication on NASA's website, the Europa Clipper mission is planned to launch from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida. It is indicated that the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle of the American company SpaceX will be used for the launch. Europe is one of the four largest satellites of Jupiter, discovered by Galileo Galilei back in the 17th century. Its surface is covered with ice, under which there is a multi-kilometer ocean of liquid water.
Today, planetary scientists consider it one of the probable centers of extraterrestrial life. This is supported by the fact that this body of water exchanges gases and minerals with the ice on the surface, and also contains hydrogen and some other substances that can support the life of microbes.
For this reason, scientists have long been interested in how the subglacial ocean of Europe arose and what chemical composition it has. Of particular interest is the age of this extraterrestrial body of water, as well as whether it arose on the moon of Jupiter from local deposits of ice and rocks, or whether it was created by asteroids and comets that fell on the surface of Europa in the distant past.
