Jakarta: The space company owned by billionaire Elon Musk, namely SpaceX, can be considered a big winner. Not only do they dominate space missions on flights to the International Space Station (ISS) but now they have won a new contract with NASA.
SpaceX is rumored to have just received a contract from NASA for a mission to explore Jupiter, but not on the planet but on the Moon that revolves around it and is named Europa.
Quoted from Space.com, SpaceX has won a $178 million contract to be trusted to send a NASA observation satellite called the Europa Clipper. This satellite was built with a large fund of USD 4.25 billion.
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The SpaceX rocket used is the Falcon Heavy type or one that is larger than the one used on the mission to the ISS. The plan is that the rocket will fly with the Europa Clipper satellite in October 2024 and arrive at Jupiter’s orbital line in April 2030.
Not only the distance that takes six years, the Europa Clipper satellite will also be tasked with making observations on the planet’s Moon for five rounds or equal to a duration of four years according to Earth time.
Europa as the Moon of the Planet Jupiter has characteristics that are claimed to support the life of living things. The celestial body has a vast ocean behind the ice that covers it.
Information collected by Medcom.id reveals that Europa is slightly smaller than Earth’s Moon. Europa is the closest of the 79 moons that orbit Jupiter as well as the six largest moons in the solar system.
Although this time NASA is again relying on private companies for its space missions, it turns out that NASA is actually claimed to be able to save as much as $1.5 billion in costs. This is because they don’t have to bother with preparing rocket launchers and the rockets made by SpaceX are recycled rockets, not disposable.
(MMI)
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