RPI and NASA on a mission to Jupiter’s moon

TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- It is a big mission for NASA’s huge spacecraft the Europa Clipper. Traveling nearly two billion miles to Jupiter’s moon, Europa. The ship is NASA’s largest ever to travel through space on this one-of-a-kind mission. It is about the size of a basketball court with its solar wings unfurled. And an R.P.I. undergrad is playing a small part in the massive undertaking.

“It was so exciting. I had to watch it on my TV. And it's something that's been in the works for so long. It's something that I've been really anticipating, and it's something that's really going to push us forward in the future.” said RPI Junior Chemistry Major, Brianna Casey.

Casey was one of only 40 students to be selected nationwide to be a part of NASA’s Europa ICONS (Inspiring Clipper Opportunities for Next-Generation Scientists).

"It was really cool to meet all these other like young scientists and everyone in the field. Because these are the people that are going to be leading the future. These are my future peers I'm going to be working with on this mission, hopefully. And I'm really excited to do so,” said Casey.

The goal of the mission is to find out if life is possible on Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Some of the lead scientists also got their start at RPI.

Charles Norton Ph.D., RPI Alum, Deputy Chief Technologist at NASA said, “It’s roughly the size of Earth and it actually has twice as much water we believe as Earth. Much of that is trapped below the icy shell in a subsurface ocean.”

Casey says the next six years will be solely focused on getting to Europa. It is what happens next that matters. She says, "We can't get anything directly back yet because it's not there. But once we're there and we start collecting that science, that's when the real science is going to start happening.”

Even though Casey's NASA internship ends after ten weeks, a ten-year mission means there is time for more science-oriented students to get involved. “If you look up NASA internships online, there's so many for so many different fields and it's just like a great opportunity for students and for like the younger generation to start getting involved early and really just start applying and you can have a shot,” said Casey.

The spacecraft is expected to make it to Jupiter in 2030.  Casey hopes to follow up on that part of history as well.