Europa, one of the first two moons of Jupiter to be discovered by famous astronomer Galileo Galilei. This image is in natural color.
(Image Sources: NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Wikipedia.org, By NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill - File:Europa - PJ45-2.png from https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing?id=13844, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=125306643)
By Glenn A. Walsh
Reporting for SpaceWatchtower
NASA is inviting everyone to add their name to a poem that will be launched aboard the Europa Clipper, the latest U.S. unmanned spacecraft which will study Jupiter's icy moon Europa. Etched on the probe as a “Message In A Bottle” will be the poem, "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa", written by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limon (Internet link to the poem transcript near the end of this blog-post).
The
Europa Clipper is scheduled to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space
Center (Launch Complex 39A) in Florida in mid-to-late October of next
year. The tentative launch date is 2024 October 10 (with a 21-day
launch window until October 30), with orbital insertion expected 2030
April 11. To reach Europa, the spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles / 2.89 billion kilometers.
To add your name to a microchip which will be included on the spacecraft, you must register at the special NASA Internet web-site by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Sunday, 2023 December 31 / 4:59 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on Monday, 2024 January 1. Internet link to NASA web-site for public registration of names on the Europa Clipper can be found near the end of this blog-post.
One of 95 confirmed moons or natural satellites orbiting Jupiter, Europa was one of the first of two moons discovered circling another planet. It was famous astronomer Galileo Galilei who spotted Europa, along with Jupiter moon Io, on 1610 January 8.
It was also observed about the same time by German astronomer Simon Marius, which led to a dispute regarding who was the true discoverer. Although Marius did not report his discovery until a day after Galileo reported the discovery, Marius actually gave the mythological names to the four Galilean Moons. The moon Europa is named after Europa, a Phoenician noblewoman in Greek mythology, daughter of the King of Tyre.
Discovery of Europa and Io, along with Jupiter moons Callisto and Ganymede a few days later (these four moons are known as the Galilean Moons), was a monumental discovery, proving that some planetary objects orbited other planets besides the Earth. This definitively illustrated that the Copernican model of the Solar System is the correct model.
Galileo made this discovery at the University of Padua in Italy. He used the first astronomical refracting telescope, of a 20-power magnification.
Europa is the sixth closest moon to Jupiter, the sixth largest moon in the Solar System, and the smallest of the four Galilean Moons. Europa is just a little smaller than Earth's Moon.
Europa is composed of silicate rock and an iron-nickel core with a water-ice crust and a very thin atmosphere made-up mostly of Oxygen (O2). With the smoothest surface of any solid object in the Solar System, the hypothesis is that Europa has a sub-ice liquid ocean, which could harbor extraterrestrial life.
Tidal Heating, from close proximity to the largest planet in the Solar System, is thought to keep the sub-surface ocean in a liquid state. Eruptions of water vapor plumes, similar to those seen on Saturn's moon Enceladus, have been observed on Europa by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Galileo space probe. It is thought that probes to Europa can sample water from these plumes for composition and possible life, without having to land on the surface and drill into the ice sheet.
The Europa Clipper is not designed to orbit Europa. Scientists have determined this would be too dangerous due to the strong radiation belts emanating from Jupiter which could seriously damage equipment systems on-board the spacecraft.
Instead, the Europa Clipper will enter a very elliptical orbit around Jupiter, which brings the spacecraft close to Europa at a certain portion of the orbit. The Europa Clipper is scheduled to make 44 close fly-bys of the surface of the planetary body. This will allow the space probe to make scientific measurements and observations, while giving it more time to send the data back to Earth during the greater length of time when the radiation belts are not affecting the equipment.
Originally scheduled to launch aboard a NASA Space Launch System (SLS) super heavy-lift rocket (the same rocket set to send astronauts back to the Moon this decade), NASA received permission from the U.S. Congress to use a commercial launch vehicle instead. So, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch the Europa Clipper. The 5.5-year trajectory to the Jovian system will include two gravity-assist maneuvers to provide greater energy for the long trek: with Mars in February of 2025 and with Earth in December of 2026.
The goals of the Europa Clipper mission are to determine if Europa could be inhabited by extraterrestrial life and to scout for appropriate landing sites for a future Europa landing space probe. While examining the water plumes for possible life, scientists will be looking specifically for the three main requirements of life: liquid water (H2O), appropriate chemistry, and energy.
The three objectives scientists will be studying during this mission ---
Ice Shell and confirmation that a sub-surface ocean exists;
Ocean composition;
Geology and characteristics of surface features.
Internet Link to Poem, "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa":
Internet Link to “Message In A Bottle” Public Registration for the Poem, "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa" on NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft:
Link >>> https://europa.nasa.gov/message-in-a-bottle/sign-on/
Internet Links to Additional Information ---
Jupiter Moon Europa: Link >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(moon)
Europa Clipper Space Probe -
Link 1 (NASA) >>> https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper
Link 2 >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_Clipper
Tidal Heating: Link >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_heating
Galileo Galilei: Link >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei
Simon Marius: Link >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Marius
More Poetry Regarding Astronomy & the Space Sciences:
Link >>> https://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/poetry/
Related Blog-Posts ---
"Laser-Powered Sub to Explore Jupiter Moon Europa ?" Sun., 2018 Oct. 7.
Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2018/10/laser-powered-sub-to-explore-jupiter.html
"Deadline to Add Name to NASA Mars Lander: Tuesday Night." Sun., 2015 Sept. 6.
Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2015/09/deadline-to-add-name-to-nasa-mars.html
Source: Glenn A. Walsh Reporting for SpaceWatchtower, a project of Friends of the Zeiss
Tuesday, 2023 June 14.
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gaw
Glenn
A. Walsh, Informal Science Educator & Communicator
(For more than 50 years! -
Since Monday Morning, 1972 June 12):
Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/weblog/spacewatchtower/gaw/
Electronic Mail: < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
Project Director, Friends of the Zeiss: Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/fotz/
SpaceWatchtower Editor / Author: Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/
Formerly
Astronomical Observatory Coordinator & Planetarium Lecturer,
original Buhl Planetarium & Institute of Popular Science (a.k.a.
Buhl Science Center), America's fifth major planetarium and Pittsburgh's
science & technology museum from 1939 to 1991.
Formerly Trustee,
Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, Pittsburgh suburb of
Carnegie, Pennsylvania, the fourth of only five libraries where both construction and endowment funded by famous industrialist & philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh: Link >>> http://www.planetarium.cc Buhl Observatory: Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2016/11/75th-anniversary-americas-5th-public.html
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago: Link >>> http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear: Link >>> http://johnbrashear.tripod.com
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries: Link >>> http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc
* Other Walsh-Authored Blog & Web-Sites: Link >>> https://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/gawweb.html
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