Why travel three billion kilometers to find water in the space
- A large NASA rocket is on its way to Jupiter’s moon Europa in search of extraterrestrial water.
- The rocket will reach its destination in April 2030 after a journey of six years.
- Europa is slightly smaller than Earth’s moon, but scientists estimate that it contains twice as much water as all of Earth’s oceans.
- The presence of water supports the existence of some form of life there.
- During this journey, the rocket will cover a distance of 3 billion km.
On October 10, NASA is launching a long-distance science mission to search for water, which will reach the orbit of Jupiter’s moon Europa after covering a distance of about three billion kilometers. This long and complicated journey will be completed in six years.
SpaceX’s powerful Falcon rocket will be used for this long and difficult journey. It is the largest rocket ever sent into space, with solar panels spanning 100 feet.
The cost of this water search mission is estimated to be around 5 billion dollars. More than a thousand experts are working on this project, including more than 220 scientists from different countries.
The biggest threat to this mission is the radiation around Jupiter that can damage the scientific instruments mounted on the rocket. Jupiter’s magnetic field is 20,000 times stronger than Earth’s, and its rotation produces powerful radioactive particles.
The possibility of vast reservoirs of water deep in Mars
The rocket will repeatedly pass through the radioactive atmosphere during its orbit. Scientists are currently focusing much of their attention on the protective system designed to protect scientific equipment from radiation.
Cameras, radars and other instruments on the spacecraft will collect scientific information about the amount of water on Jupiter’s moon Europa and send it back to Earth, which will help determine whether Europa’s icy surface is melting. A potential ocean below is suitable for life. The spacecraft orbiting Jupiter’s moon is named Europa Clipper.
Europa Clipper will pass 49 times, about 25 kilometers from the moon’s surface, during which it will be exposed to intense radiation, project manager Jordan Evans said. Therefore, there is a gap of three weeks between each cycle so that the spacecraft’s instruments can recover from the effects of radiation.
How much water is in Europa?
Scientists believe that Europa has a 15 to 25 km thick ice layer that can be 60 to 150 km deep. The diameter of this moon is a quarter of that of the Earth, while the amount of water is more than twice the amount of all the oceans of the Earth combined. However, it is salt water.
