The launch of the Europa Clipper probe is one of the space exploration projects to watch in 2024/NASA
2023.12.31 Sun posted at 13:52 JST
(CNN) NASA is running a “Message in a Bottle” campaign that will send more than 2 million names to Jupiter’s moon Europa, and if you register by the end of the year, you can have your name sent to Jupiter’s moon Europa. can be sent to space.
NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft is scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in October 2024 and embark on a 2.9 billion km journey to Jupiter’s moon Europa.
After reaching orbit in 2030, the spacecraft will fly around the ice-covered Europa for several years to investigate whether there is life in the ocean beneath the ice. Europa is one of the moons that is home to an oceanic world that is considered one of the best places to search for life beyond Earth.
The spacecraft will carry nine pieces of scientific equipment, including a camera, a spectrometer, an ice-penetrating radar, and a temperature gauge, as well as a poem written by American poet Ada Limón aimed at Europa. The poem will be engraved in Limón’s handwriting on a tantalum metal plate, and will be stored inside the spacecraft’s cover along with a microchip with the names of those who applied.
Applicants’ names are recorded using an electron beam on a silicon chip the size of a dime, and each person’s name is smaller than 1/1000th the size of a human hair.
The microchip will be installed on a spacecraft being assembled at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft developed by NASA for planetary missions, reaching a width of 30.5 meters and a height of approximately 5 meters when the solar array is opened to collect sunlight.
