As early as the 19th century, smooth ships sailed around the globe called clippers. They had the opportunity to explore unknown and dangerous ocean expanses, being engaged in trade missions.
Now NASA is inspired by these three-masted ships, in preparation for sending a new water exploration mission. Here only the source is distant from us by 640 million km. We are talking about the Europa Clipper mission, which is to study Europe - the satellite of Jupiter.
Europe Captured by the Mission of Galileo
The launch of the mission is scheduled for 2023-2025. The Europa Clipper spacecraft should be fixed in orbit around Europe, regularly approaching its surface. The main mission plan is designed for 40-45 flights, which means that the rapprochement will occur with an interval of two weeks. At the point of convergence, the Europa Clipper will photograph the European ice crust in high resolution, trying to determine what the object consists of. The main thing is also to understand what is happening with the ocean, located under the frozen surface. It is believed that Europe is able to have the building blocks of life and the Europa Clipper spaceship will be able to detect them.
Sea Clipper Ship
A NASA statement said:
“During each orbit, the spacecraft spends only a short time interval in a complex radiation environment near Europe. He will pass by, collecting a huge amount of scientific data ”.
It may take several years to fly to the Jupiter system. The details of the mission have not yet been disclosed, but by 2022 its value should reach $ 2.48 billion.
