NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft is in for a wild ride.

The launch of this mission to explore the ocean world Europa — a Jupiter moon that harbors an ocean perhaps twice the volume of all Earth’s seas — was interrupted by the imposing Hurricane Milton, but its 1.8-billion-mile journey is imminent. The craft will make nearly 50 close flybys of Europa’s cracked, icy shell, using a number of high-resolution cameras, a ground-penetrating radar, and even a device that will literally sample particles of Europa that have been ejected into space by tiny meteorites.

The mission will gather copious amounts of information, enough to discern whether or not Europa harbors conditions that could host life beneath its ice shell.

“It’s perhaps one of the best places beyond Earth to look for life in our solar system,” Cynthia Phillips, a NASA planetary geologist and project staff scientist for the space agency’s Europa Clipper mission, told Mashable.

The repeated reconnaissance will require the craft to make perfectly timed loops around Jupiter as it intersects Europa’s orbit, which NASA shows in the animation below.

Here’s what you’re watching (a short ad plays first):

– Center orange dot: Jupiter

– Blue dot: Europa

– Gray, red, and yellow dots: Respectively Jupiter’s other three large moons — Io, Ganymede, and Callisto

– Magenta: That’s Europa Clipper “lopping in and out,” NASA explained.

There’s also a timestamp on the top right showing the mission’s planned flight between April and July 2032.

“The relative intensity of Jupiter’s radiation bands is illustrated in this diagram,” NASA explains, with darker reds depicting more radiation. Both Europa and Europa Clipper’s orbits are depicted in the graphic.
Credit: NASA

This looping trajectory is also designed to limit the spacecraft’s exposure to extreme radiation. “The charged particle environment at Europa’s location is immense,” Phillips said.

That’s because Jupiter, a gas giant planet 317 times more massive than Earth, generates a massive magnetic field shooting out between 600,000 to 2 million miles (1 to 3 million kilometers) toward the sun. It’s created by the planet’s liquid metal core, which spins and creates electrical currents (moving electric charges make magnetic fields). Crucially, this magnetic field grabs and then accelerates particles from the relentless solar wind — a stream of rapidly traveling charged particles emitted by the sun — which creates potent radiation belts around Jupiter, as depicted above.

“You get out of there.”

(Decades ago, during the Voyager mission, NASA’s engineers were worried about the craft passing by Jupiter. A person hypothetically riding aboard Voyager as it passed Jupiter would have gotten hit with a radiation dose 1,000 times the lethal level.)

Not all of Europa Clipper’s electronics and software can be housed in a metal vault, so looping by the moon for relatively brief periods will limit impacts from charged particles, which can damage computer chips and electronics. During each orbit around Jupiter, the craft will spend under a day in an irradiated zone before swooping out. It won’t return for between two to three weeks.

“You get out of there,” Phillips said.

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After journeying through the solar system, the craft is expected to reach Jupiter in 2030, and soon after begin its orbital dance through the Jovian system. If it appears habitable, NASA plans to return to Europa and land a robot on the icy crust. Such an endeavor would drill into the ice, looking to see if the moon is inhabited.

Scientists have never actually seen a moon orbiting a planet other than the ones in this solar system. An exomoon, a companion to an exoplanet, likely would be too tiny and far away for telescopes to resolve. 

But a new NASA study may have found a clue that one is orbiting a planet some 635 light-years from Earth. The inference comes from a vast sodium cloud spotted in space. Whatever is causing it produces about 220,000 pounds of sodium per second. 

The research suggests a rocky moon circling exoplanet WASP-49 b, a Saturn-sized gas giant discovered in 2017, is the source. That could mean the distant world is accompanied by a moon like Jupiter’s Io — a highly volcanic place, blasting out its own massive cloud of gasses 1,000 times wider than Jupiter.

“The evidence is very compelling that something other than the planet and star are producing this cloud,” said Rosaly Lopes, a planetary geologist who co-authored the study, in a statement. “Detecting an exomoon would be quite extraordinary, and because of Io, we know that a volcanic exomoon is possible.”

An exomoon could be the source of a bewildering sodium cloud found around an exoplanet.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech illustration

This is not the first time astronomers have suspected an exomoon was lurking in their data. There have been exomoon candidates discovered in the past, though confirming their existence is much more difficult. Scientists such as Apurva Oza, once a postdoctoral researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, are interested in finding unconventional ways to detect them for what they could represent: Moons throughout the galaxy could also potentially offer habitable conditions for life, even if their host planets don’t. 

That’s why Oza wanted to return to studying WASP-49 b to further investigate the source of its bewildering cloud. Researchers used a ground-based telescope to observe the silhouettes of the cloud and the exoplanet as they passed in front of the host star. 

At one point, they noticed that the cloud was moving faster than WASP-49 b and away from Earth. If the cloud were coming from the exoplanet, they figured they would have seen it moving toward Earth. The observation led them to conclude that the cloud was coming from a separate source, according to the paper recently published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Exoplanet WASP-49 b could have an exomoon similar to Jupiter’s Io, a highly volcanic world pumping gasses into space.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech illustration

“We think this is a really critical piece of evidence,” said Oza, a staff scientist at Caltech and the lead author, in a statement. “The cloud is moving in the opposite direction that physics tells us it should be going if it were part of the planet’s atmosphere.”

The team’s research provided other clues that an exomoon was making the cloud. Both the planet and the star are mostly made of the lightest elements, hydrogen and helium, with hardly any sodium. Seemingly neither has enough to be responsible for the cloud. Scientists also used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile to see that the cloud hovers high above the exoplanet’s atmosphere — just like the cloud Io envelops around Jupiter. 

Next the team developed computer models to see if an exomoon could be the cloud’s catalyst. Their simulations found that a moon with a snug eight-hour orbit around the planet could explain the cloud’s motion — the way it seemed to sometimes drift in front of the planet and how it didn’t appear to be tied to any particular region of the alien world. 

Jupiter’s moon Io, seen in multiple views above, is the most volcanically active world in our solar system.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS

Scientists can’t say anything definitive about the exomoon because it’s just a candidate. But here’s what astronomers know about Io, the third-largest Jovian moon out of 95. Io is the most volcanic world in the solar system. Astronomers believe hundreds of volcanoes spew fountains that reach dozens of miles high.

Jupiter’s gravity squeezes Io‘s core as the moon moves closer, then slackens as it moves farther away. This swelling and contracting causes Io’s interior to heat up, triggering tidal volcanism. 

Scientists will need to continue observing this cloud to confirm its behavior, so the team is likely a long way from knowing with certainty if they have proof of an exomoon. Still, the results are thrilling for Oza, who believes looking for gas clouds — perhaps an order of magnitude larger than their source — could be an indirect method of finding habitable moons in other star systems.

California-based aerospace company Vast has revealed the remarkable interior design of Haven-1, which is set to become the world’s first commercial space station. In a newly released video, the company showcased a habitat that looks more like a luxury hotel than a typical orbital laboratory. The design, both sleek and inviting, promises a new level of comfort for future space travelers.

Today, Vast unveiled the final design for Haven-1, the world’s first commercial space station, setting a new standard. Guided by visionary designer Peter Russell-Clarke and astronaut Andrew Feustel, we’re pushing the boundaries of life in space with human-first design led by… pic.twitter.com/xDdMzNFnuF
— VAST (@vast) October 10, 2024

Haven-1 features modern wood veneer accents, padded white walls, and amenities similar to those found in top-tier hotels. The station also offers visitors a fully equipped gym to help them stay active, even in zero gravity. Additionally, private rooms are outfitted with the latest entertainment and communication technologies, ensuring that astronauts can easily stay in touch with family and friends on Earth.

“Set to launch on SpaceX’s Falcon rocket in 2025, Haven-1’s first paying customers will board in 2026,” Vast said in a press release.

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Accommodating up to four astronauts, Haven-1 provides a level of comfort far surpassing that of the International Space Station (ISS). Each astronaut will have a cosy private room, complete with storage, a vanity, and a specially engineered queen-sized bed to enhance sleep quality in space.

Veteran NASA astronaut Andrew Feustel, who has accumulated over 225 days in space, played a key advisory role in shaping the design and layout of Haven-1. His extensive experience contributed to ensuring that the space station would not only be functional but also comfortable for its inhabitants.

“From communication and connectivity, to private space and interacting with others aboard, to advancing human progress on Earth and beyond, every detail has been designed with the astronaut experience at the core of our work,” he said.

ALSO SEE: Astronaut Floats In Space As Tiangong Space Station Cruises Above Blue Earth; Watch

(Image: Vast)