NASA Readies Europa Clipper Mission

At first glance, Jupiter’s closest moon Europa may seem like an unlikely place to look for life.  First observed on earth by Galileo Galilei in 1610, Europa has a mass less than Earth’s moon, has very little atmosphere, is completely covered with ice and has surface radiation levels that would kill a human being in 24 hours.  Nevertheless, astronomers think that beneath Europa’s icy crust may lie a liquid ocean of H2O.  Where there’s water, there may be life. That’s why the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration has targeted Europa for its next big unmanned space mission.  The craft, dubbed the Europa Clipper, will orbit within 6 miles of Europa’s surface, at a distance of 390 million miles from earth.  The Clipper must be superbly designed to withstand the stresses and challenges of such a mission.  Enter Kobie Boykins, winner of the NASA Exceptional Service medal and chief engineer for the Europa Clipper project at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  Kobie Boykins joins us now by phone. Image by NASA-Imagery from Pixabay