Marking the latest foray into space exploration, NASA has launched its first mission to explore Jupiter’s moon, Europa, to determine if it harbors conditions suitable to support life.
NASA’s Europa Clipper launched on Oct. 14 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carried into orbit on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, according to the agency.
The agency will invest approximately $5.2 billion in the entire life of the mission, which spans nearly two decades, beginning in 2015 and ending in 2034, according to a press release from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Europa is the fourth largest of Jupiter’s 95 moons, and planetary scientists believe this unique moon harbors a salty ocean beneath its icy crust.
NASA says the mission aims to answer the question: Does the global, subsurface ocean contain the organic compounds and energy sources necessary to sustain life?
“As an ocean world, Europa is very intriguing,” Gina DiBraccio, director of NASA’s planetary science division, said during a press briefing last month.