NASA's highly anticipated Europa Clipper probe bound for an icy moon of Jupiter is on track for its liftoff next month. Europa Clipper , which will study the potentially life-harboring Jupiter moon Europa up close, passed a crucial technical review called Key Decision Point E (KDP-E) today (Sept. 9).
The good news means that Clipper can proceed into final preparations for launch, which is scheduled to take place atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 10. "I am thrilled to say that we are confident that our beautiful spacecraft and capable team are ready for launch operations and our full science mission at Europa," Laurie Leshin, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, told reporters this afternoon.
A few months ago, passing KDP-E may have seemed like a long shot for the $5 billion Clipper mission. In May, the mission team realized that Clipper's transistors, which control the flow of electricity on the spacecraft, suffer failures at lower radiation doses than previously thought. That could be a big deal, given that Europa lies within a radiation hot zone, thanks to Jupiter's enormously strong magnetic field.
Related: Why NASA's Europa Clipper to Jupiter's icy moon is such a big deal After four months of virtually non-stop testing and analysis, however, the Clipper team determined that the transistors should hold up throughout the probe's four-year science mission. Clipper will orbit Jupiter and.