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NASA Selects Elon Musk-Led SpaceX For Its 2024 Mission To Explore Jupiter's Moon Europa

Swarajya StaffJul 24, 2021, 01:20 PM | Updated 01:20 PM IST
SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk   (Kevork Djansezian/GettyImages) 

SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk (Kevork Djansezian/GettyImages) 


World-leading space research organisation NASA has selected billionaire techpreneur Elon Musk-led SpaceX to launch its probe of Jupiter's moon Europa, which has liquid oceans that could harbour life, reports Hindustan Times.

NASA has awarded SpaceX with the $178 million contract to launch the Europa Clipper mission from the Florida-based Kennedy Space Center on board a Falcon Heavy rocket in October 2024. The rocket will carry a sophisticated suite of science instruments with it to investigate whether Jupiter's icy moon has conditions suitable for life.


The payload will also include a radar to penetrate the icy layer of the surface to search for liquid water below.

It should be noted that the journey is expected to take as much as five-long-years as Jupiter's moon, Europa, is approximately 390 million miles, or 630 million kilometres) away from Earth.

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