NASA confirms it’s heading to Europa in the 2020s to unlock its icy secrets

By Ed Oswald Published August 20, 2019

Image used with permission by copyright holder

NASA is heading to Europa, Jupiter’s icy (and potentially life-supporting) moon, in the next decade. The mission could be ready for launch as soon as 2023, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday, although it is currently committed to being launch-ready by 2025.

Europa is a compelling destination: It’s the sixth-largest moon in the solar system and has a crust primarily comprised of water ice. Astrophysicists have long speculated that there is liquid water below, and potentially alien life. The Europa Clipper mission will send a spacecraft to orbit Jupiter and perform at least 45 close flybys of the moon, which will enable more detailed imagery than ever before.

Recommended Videos

“We are all excited about the decision that moves the Europa Clipper mission one key step closer to unlocking the mysteries of this ocean world,” Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA Science Mission Directorate associate administrator, said in a statement.

Among the instrument payload currently expected are high-definition cameras and an ice-penetrating radar, the latter of which would look for the subsurface lakes scientists think are there. A magnetometer would measure the salinity and depth of these oceans based on measurements of the magnetic field, while other equipment would look for evidence of an atmosphere and recent water eruptions on Europa’s surface.

While the Europa Clipper won’t touch down on the moon, it will provide crucial information to NASA on the feasibility and value of a surface-based mission in the future. If water is discovered that is of a similar salinity to that of Earth, the ramifications of such a discovery could be game-changing.

“Europa we don’t really get — there are these really key mysteries we’re trying to understand,” Robert Pappalardo, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory planetary scientist, told Space.com in January. “People care about it, people want to know about this mysterious world that might harbor life. That’s a really important reason to do it.”

Former Contributor

For fifteen years, Ed has written about the latest and greatest in gadgets and technology trends. At Digital Trends, he's…

Topics

Emerging Tech

Anti-surveillance clothing is getting cheaper, but don’t expect an invisibility cloak

Affordable shirts now claim to confuse facial recognition, although their protection depends heavily on the camera and software watching you

Chart, Plot, Adult

Anti-surveillance clothing is starting to look less like an art-school experiment and more like something you could actually wear outside. Shirts designed to confuse facial recognition systems now cost about as much as ordinary streetwear, although buying one won’t make you disappear.

The Guardian reports that designers are using face-like prints, unusual cuts and infrared lights to interfere with computer vision. These techniques target specific weaknesses, so their success depends on what happens to be watching you.

Emerging Tech

This spinning drone hides in plain sight using a visual illusion

This drone doesn't turn invisible. It tricks your brain into thinking it has.

Phantom Twist

For decades, engineers have chased the dream of an invisible drone. The usual approaches have involved transparent materials, camouflage coatings, or complex optical systems that bend light around an object. Researchers at Northwestern University decided to take a completely different route. Instead of hiding the drone itself, they chose to fool the human eye.

The result is Phantom Twist, an experimental drone that spins so rapidly it almost disappears into the background. It's not technically invisible, but to anyone watching, it looks more like a faint blur than a flying machine.

Emerging Tech

This smart knitted fabric can flip switches, count your steps, and even change shape

Grandma's knitting just entered its Iron Man era

Representative Image

For most of us, knitting brings to mind sweaters, scarves, and perhaps an ambitious grandmother determined to make winter more fashionable. Researchers at Harvard University, however, have a far more futuristic vision. They've transformed ordinary knitted fabric into a programmable material capable of changing shape, acting as an electrical switch, sensing movement, and potentially forming the foundation of tomorrow's wearable technology.

The research, published in Advanced Functional Materials by scientists at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), demonstrates how machine-knitted textiles can "snap" between multiple stable shapes without relying on motors or rigid mechanical parts.