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

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 mission will be conducting a detailed survey of Jupiter's moon and probe whether it has conditions suitable for life. Europa Clipper's payload will include cameras and spectrometers to produce high-resolution images and compositional maps of the surface and atmosphere.

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.