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Europa Clipper Launch: NASA’s Europa Clipper mission is set to launch today, October 14, in a quest for humans to discover the possibility of extra-terrestrial life outside Earth. The mission will explore Europa, a mysterious moon orbiting the distant planet Jupiter.

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In a few hours, NASA’s flagship Europa Clipper spacecraft will blast off from Florida to search for signs of alien life, as we humans call it. 

NASA hoped to launch the mission on October 10 originally, but due to Hurricane Milton last week, the launch of Europa Clipper was halted. This is one of the greatest missions by humans on Earth to better understand the habitability outside our planet. Europa is located 628 km from Earth and is just a bit bigger than our moon. 

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"Clipper is the first NASA spacecraft dedicated to studying an ocean world beyond Earth," NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free told reporters in a briefing on Sunday evening (Oct 13).

The spaceship is the largest ever built to visit a planet and has a long journey ahead. Travelling 1.8 billion miles, it will orbit both the Earth and Mars to propel itself further towards Jupiter in the sling-shot effect.

Europa Clipper launch: Time, date, live streaming and other details

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Both NASA and SpaceX will be involved in the launch of the Europa Clipper spacecraft toward Jupiter’s moon Europa on Oct 14 (Monday). It is a 5 billion dollar one-of-a-kind flagship mission to the icy moon of Jupiter. There is a 95 per cent chance of good weather at launch time, unlike the last time when blast-off was affected by Hurricane Milton, Space Force officials said. 

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Europa Clipper launch time

The flagship spacecraft will lift off at 12:06 pm EDT (1606 GMT) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The lift-off will take place during a tiny 15-second launch window. 

When will the spacecraft reach Jupiter’s moon Europa?

The spacecraft is designed to reach the Jupiter system in April 2030 and will spend four years making close flybys of Europa, which is the most promising place in our solar system for the search for life beyond Earth. 

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About Europa

Europa’s most dominant feature, that distinguishes it from our Moon, is its vast salty ocean contained under a thick ice crust, which sometimes escapes through vast water plumes. Its icy crust is up to 25 km thick with certain chemicals that may be the building blocks for life on the moon. 

Mission objectives

Scientists are aiming that the instrument on NASA’s Clipper spacecraft will map the entire moon, will also collect dust particles and fly through the water plumes. The spacecraft should fly past Europa about 50 times, and each time, it will be blasted with radiation equivalent to one million X-rays.

Europa Clipper launch: Live-streaming details

NASA will offer a free webcast in English for the launch on its NASA+ streaming service, as well as its NASA YouTube page, starting at 11 am EDT (1500 GMT).

(With inputs from agencies)