NASA is accepting applications to travel to the moon Europa aboard the Europa Clipper spacecraft before the end of this year.

Submit your name for the 2.89 billion km journey from Earth to the moon Europa on NASA’s Europa Clipper mission before the application deadline expires at the end of December 2023 in time for the spacecraft’s scheduled departure.

Traveling from a star in the blue ocean floating among the dark sea of ​​stars to another star in the icy ocean beneath the surface of the solar system, which made NASA call this sending activity a “message in a bottle” or a message in a water bottle. On our planet, this is done by placing a piece of paper in a sealed bottle. before being sent floating along the ocean currents

You can submit names to join the activity via https://europa.nasa.gov/message-in-a-bottle/sign-on/ From now until December 31, 2023

Names submitted through this activity will be collected and recorded on a microchip the size of a 10-cent coin before being affixed to the Europa Clipper spacecraft, just like poems written by a US government poet. and exploration equipment intended to expand human understanding of the Moon.

Europa is one of the Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter. It is slightly smaller than Earth’s moon. There is a thin atmosphere consisting mainly of oxygen. Astronomers speculate that there is a vast ocean beneath the surface of the moon. There may be more water than there is on our planet. As a result, this moon may have a suitable environment for life. It is one of the important targets that the Europa Clipper spacecraft will travel to explore.

“If there is life on the moon Europa, it is quite clear that these life forms may be very different from those on our planet. This may mean that life could exist,” said Robert Pappalardo, principal scientist of the Europa Clipper mission, describing the uniqueness of Europa’s moon. Everywhere in the universe.” Both have opportunities to encounter the ocean of chemical elements that are the basis of life, including receiving energy from the planet Jupiter

Europa Clipper will leave Earth in October 2024, before undertaking a six-year journey in orbit around Jupiter. And use it to fly across Europa to scan and send information back to the world quickly without having to worry about the effects of radiation from Europa’s surroundings that might occur on the various equipment on board the spacecraft. NASA determined that the spacecraft would be able to operate for at least four years. Or between 2030 and 2034.

Image: JPL.NASA.GOV

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