Geology professor from Massachusetts has key role in NASA's Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter
NORTON - A Massachusetts geology professor is playing a key role in NASA's $5.2 billion Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter that blasted off on Monday.
The spacecraft launched by a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center will take five-and-a-half years to fly 1.8 billion miles to Europa, where it will study the moon to determine if it has the necessary conditions to support life.
Europa Clipper mission to explore Jupiter moon's surface
Wheaton College professor Geoffrey Collins has been working on the mission for more than 10 years. The planetary geologist is part of the camera team that will give scientists a detailed look of the moon's surface. The state-of-the-art narrow and wide-angle cameras will be able to see car-sized objects on Europa's surface.
NASA says there is scientific evidence that Europa may have the ingredients for life right now. Europa is covered in ice, but previous studies have suggested there is a huge salt-water ocean beneath the surface.
"Crown jewel of the ocean worlds"
"Life as we know it requires liquid water, and Europa is the crown jewel of the ocean worlds in our solar system," Collins said in a statement shared by Wheaton. "With an ocean larger than all of the Earth's oceans combined, in contact with a rocky seafloor, under a relatively thin layer of fresh and young-looking ice, Europa is covered with bizarre surface features that we don't understand."
Collins said 15 Wheaton students have been helping to figure out how plate tectonics work on Europa, which could play a part in making the moon's ocean suitable for life. He hopes the Europa Clipper will be a big step in the hunt for life in the universe.
"By the end of the mission we should know where the promising places are that we should investigate further in our search for life," Collins said.
