SpaceX sacrificed all Falcon Heavy boosters in a bid to find life outside the Earth
- by Neowin
- Oct 14, 2024
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— NASA (@NASA) October 14, 2024
Scientists predict a salty ocean lies beneath Europa’s icy surface which has more water than Earth’s oceans combined.
The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet. Europa Clipper’s three main science objectives are to:
Determine the thickness of Europa’s icy shell, and understand how Europa’s ocean interacts with the surface
Investigate the composition of Europa’s ocean to determine if it has the ingredients to permit and sustain life
Study how Europa’s surface features formed and locate any signs of recent activity, such as sliding crust plates or plumes that are venting water into space
Per Everyday Astronaut’s statistics, Europa Clipper marks SpaceX’s 400th launch. However, the company won't celebrate the successful mission by recovering the reusable rocket boosters. The reason is simple—Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission with solar arrays spanning more than 100 feet (30 meters), and it will travel 1.8 billion miles from Earth. This means the performance needed to launch the spacecraft didn’t allow the fuel margin required to land the boosters.
While the core booster was brand new, the side boosters flew for the sixth and last time. This is only the second mission on which the rocket was fully expended. Until now, the first and only such mission was Viasat-3 in May 2023.
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