NASA chooses SpaceX for its journey to Jupiter-moon Europa. The American space agency announced this on Friday. The decision is a major victory for billionaire Elon Musk’s company, which plans to venture further into the solar system.
The Europa Clipper mission is scheduled for October 2024 with a Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The contract is worth $178 million. Initially, the mission was to opt for the rocket Space Launch System (SLS) from NASA, but this was delayed and the cost was exceeded.
The orbiter will make 40 to 50 orbits around Europa to see if life is possible on this icy moon. The spacecraft will be equipped with cameras and spectrometers to capture high-resolution images. A radar is used to determine whether there is liquid water under the ice layer.
The Europa Clipper mission is scheduled for October 2024 with a Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The contract is worth $178 million. Initially, the mission was to opt for the rocket Space Launch System (SLS) from NASA, but this was delayed and the cost was exceeded. The orbiter will make 40 to 50 orbits around Europa to see if life is possible on this icy moon. The spacecraft will be equipped with cameras and spectrometers to capture high-resolution images. A radar is used to determine whether there is liquid water under the ice layer.
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