Jupiter rising: SpaceX just scored another major NASA contract

SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket beat out SLS, the next mega launcher, to launch NASA’s Jupiter moon mission.

NASA’s highly anticipated mission to explore Jupiter’s largest moon, Europa, has officially booked its ride to space. According to NASA officials, the $4.25bn Europa Clipper spacecraft will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket as part of a contract worth about $178m. If all goes according to plan, Clipper will blast off in October 2024 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and arrive at Jupiter in April 2030. The probe will then study Europa in-depth as it completes more than 40 close flybys of the moon over a period of about four Earth years.