LOS ANGELES, Oct. 14 — The Europa Clipper, a groundbreaking mission by NASA and SpaceX, embarked on a journey to Jupiter on Monday, marking a new chapter in space exploration. This mission aims to unravel the mysteries of Europa, one of Jupiter's most enigmatic ocean moons.

The launch of the Europa Clipper spacecraft, NASA's largest planetary spacecraft to date, took place at 12:06 p.m. Eastern Time aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA confirmed that the spacecraft successfully separated from the rocket and is now on its independent voyage to the Jovian system.

The Deep Space Network in Canberra, Australia, established communication with the Europa Clipper post-launch, a crucial first step indicating that the spacecraft is in contact with mission control on Earth.

"Today, we embark on a new journey across the solar system in search of the ingredients for life within Jupiter's icy moon. Our next chapter in space exploration has begun," proclaimed NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on social media platform X.

The Europa Clipper is designed for the first detailed study of Jupiter's moon Europa. This spacecraft, the largest ever developed by NASA for a planetary mission, boasts solar arrays spanning over 30 meters when deployed and weighs nearly 6,000 kilograms at launch.

The mission will cover a distance of approximately 2.9 billion kilometers, with an expected arrival at Jupiter in April 2030. Once in orbit around Jupiter, the spacecraft will perform nearly 50 flybys of Europa, with closest approach altitudes as low as 25 kilometers above the surface. Each flyby will soar over a different location, scanning nearly the entire moon and providing unprecedented data on its icy crust and the ocean beneath.

The mission's objectives include understanding the nature of Europa's ice shell, the underlying ocean, and the moon's composition and geology. This detailed exploration of Europa will aid scientists in comprehending the astrobiological potential of habitable worlds beyond Earth.

Europa exhibits strong evidence of a subsurface ocean of liquid water, with a saltwater ocean believed to contain about twice as much water as Earth's global ocean. As one of the most promising potentially habitable environments in the solar system beyond Earth, the Europa Clipper mission holds the key to transformative discoveries.