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Europa, one of Jupiter's icy moons, may have an ocean with twice as much water as all of Earth's oceans combined. That's why, as soon as today, NASA is launching the largest spacecraft we've ever developed for a planetary mission—a spacecraft bigger than an NBA basketball court—to see Europa like never before.
This mission, Europa Clipper, marks humanity's first thorough investigation of Europa, among the best candidates in our solar system to search for the ingredients for life. If we find those building blocks, we will transform what we know about how life forms—and our place in the universe.
NASA leads the world in exploration and discovery. Europa Clipper is just the latest in three-plus years of our agency's feats and firsts under this administration. That's thanks to our wizards in the NASA workforce, the bipartisan support of our allies in Congress, and two great NASA advocates—President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, chair of the National Space Council.
In 2021, we launched the largest, most powerful, and most complex telescope ever launched into space—NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Peering into the faraway corners of the cosmos, unlocking celestial secrets about the origins of our universe and the formation of the heavens, Webb is the gift that keeps on giving—with image after image, discovery after discovery, each more breathtaking than the last.
Then, we launched Artemis I, the first step in our campaign to send humans back to the moon for the first time since Apollo—and then look onward to Mars. We're going to explore new parts of the moon, for longer periods of time, using remarkable new science and technology. We're developing new capabilities to reach, explore, study, and live upon another world. And when we launch Artemis II, we will send a crew of four astronauts around the moon—paving the way for Artemis III, when we will leave footprints on a part of the moon no person has visited before—the lunar South pole region.
We're going back to the moon with commercial partners, all in the midst of a commercial space revolution. Among many examples, we commissioned two companies, SpaceX and Blue Origin, to build human landers that will take our Artemis astronauts to the lunar surface. And to ensure we can study the moon in a full and comprehensive way, we're partnering with companies—through our Commercial Lunar Payload Services program—to deliver landers, robots, and scientific instruments to the lunar surface.
We're also going back to the moon with international partners, and we've deepened NASA's international partnerships in a series of firsts. ESA (European Space Agency) provides the critical service module for our Orion spacecraft, a CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut serves as a mission specialist on the Artemis II crewed test flight, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) will provide a pressurized lunar rover—and astronauts—for greater surface exploration.
Space unites nations like few things can, and we have advanced relationships and established partnerships with nations on every continent—from studying our climate to exploring the stars to developing economic opportunities. We've also grown the Artemis Accords from nine nations to 45 nations and counting. Our large and growing family of nations is committed to a set of commonsense principles—that space should be explored openly, responsibly, and in peace.
We had a Wright Brothers moment on Mars—the first powered, controlled flight on another planet, through our Ingenuity helicopter, scouting for Perseverance as the rover looks for signs of ancient life. And through the DART mission, we sent a refrigerator-sized spacecraft to impact an asteroid, Dimorphos, 6.8 million miles from Earth. By successfully altering Dimorphos' trajectory, our demonstration marked a first in planetary defense. Defending our planet takes humanity working together, and last week, ESA launched the Hera mission to further investigate how DART affected Dimorphos and build new insights in planetary defense.
Here at home, we've made important strides to study our Earth and to help protect it. Most of what we know about our changing planet comes from NASA's fleet of more than two-dozen satellites and instruments—and over 60 years of climate observations. The open data from our recently launched NASA missions help us better understand—in new and important ways—the air we breathe, the waters we share, rising temperatures, and Arctic conditions. We share what we find freely and fully with all—and as humanity faces climate change, extreme weather, natural disasters, and more, our data helps the world take action. That's particularly top of mind for us today as Florida, including Cape Canaveral, and other states recover from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
When Europa Clipper lifts off, it will mark the latest NASA first as we lead to explore, discover, and innovate for the benefit of all. With the support and confidence of the American people, there is much more exploring to come—on Earth, the moon and Mars, and the cosmos beyond.
Bill Nelson serves as the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
