The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (Nasa’s) latest deep space probe, Europa Clipper, successfully lifted off early Monday evening, South African time. It was launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, from Nasa Kennedy Space Centre’s (KSC’s) Launch Pad 39A. The KSC is located in the US State of Florida. (The Falcon Heavy must not be confused with the much bigger and new Super Heavy rocket.) Europa Clipper, as its name proclaims, will investigate Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. Nasa’s Galileo mission, in the 1990s, collected strong evidence that under Europa’s icy shell lay a huge, salty, ocean, with more water than all the Earth’s oceans combined. Europa is the only known ocean world in the Solar System, other than the Earth. There is also evidence that Europa could host organic compounds and that there could be energy sources below its surface. In short, there could be life on Europa.
