It was the start of a 1.8-billion-mile, five-and-a-half-year journey. NASA's "Europa Clipper" took off Monday from the ...
The ambitious mission won't actually look for life, but it should find out if the presumed ocean provides a habitable environment.
Taking off no earlier than October 10, the spacecraft will repeatedly buzz Europa in search of water, energy and organic compounds.
"The ocean of Europa - that is thought to be one of the most likely places for life to exist right now, not just maybe in the past some time," Leichty said. That makes the Jovian moon a ripe place ...