An ambitious mission hunting for signs of life around Jupiter will hunker down in Florida as Hurricane Milton barrels across the state. Officials are hoping the highly-anticipated mission could launch as early as this weekend.
Hurricane Milton prompted NASA officials to call off a Thursday launch of its Europa Clipper spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral, Florida, space agency officials announced Sunday. The spacecraft, set to launch onboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, will ride out the powerful storm inside the company’s KSC hangar.
On Tuesday afternoon, Europa Clipper project scientist Robert Pappalardo told a crowd at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences that Clipper could roll out as early as Sunday.
Florida and the National Weather Service have issued numerous storm surge warnings and calls for evacuations across much of Florida, especially its western coast. But the eastern side is also expected to experience severe weather.
“Hurricane Milton is expected to move from the Gulf of Mexico this week moving east to the Space Coast. High winds and heavy rain are expected in the Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island regions on Florida’s east coast,” agency officials wrote in their Sunday announcement.
Pappalardo said Tuesday that a plan is taking shape. But safety comes first. And there are still several unknowns.
“When we can roll out the spacecraft and get to the launch pad depends on the timing of the storm,” Pappalardo said Tuesday. Once the hurricane passes, an assessment team at Kennedy Space Center will make sure the facility is safe to open. They can only do their work during the day, when there is visibility.
“Once we get to the pad, then there’s some time needed to prepare the pad and ready the spacecraft, and then, we’ll go off at the earliest possible opportunity,” Pappalardo added. “At present, that looks like Sunday. But we have to watch the weather, and the storm, and the timing before we know. But that’s what we’re now starting to plan as of just a few hours ago.”
