A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched NASA’s Europa Clipper mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 12:06 p.m. on 14 October 2024.

This was the sixth and final flight for the first stage boosters supporting this mission, which previously launched NASA’s Psyche mission one year ago along with the USSF-44, USSF-52, USSF-67, and Hughes JUPITER 3 missions.

Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission with solar arrays spanning more than 100 feet (~30 meters) when deployed and weighing nearly 13,000 pounds (6,000 kilograms) at launch. Powered by 24 engines, Europa Clipper will make nearly 50 flybys of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, surveying for conditions suitable to support life. Scientists predict a salty ocean lies beneath Europa’s icy surface, which has more water than Earth’s oceans combined. It will take five years to reach Europa, with an anticipated arrival in 2030.

Europa Clipper is a robotic solar-powered spacecraft built to conduct the first detailed investigations of Jupiter's icy moon Europa. The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter and make nearly 50 flybys of Europa to determine whether there are places below Europa’s surface that could support life.

With its solar arrays deployed, Europa Clipper spans more than 100 feet (about 30 meters) – about the length of a basketball court. The main body of the spacecraft consists of its avionics vault, radio frequency module, and propulsion module.

The mission’s three main science objectives are to understand the nature of the ice shell and the ocean beneath it, along with the moon’s composition and geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.