Follow live the departure of the Falcon Heavy rocket for the Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter

No time to rest for SpaceX. As soon as the fifth test flight of the Starship was completed, which made it possible to successfully complete a historic maneuver, the American company is now turning towards a new objective. It will still be a great spectacle, because it involves launching the Falcon Heavy, its largest operational rocket to date.

The flight of the Falcon Heavy in summary

• Quoi ? Sending a NASA exploration mission to Jupiter;
• When ? October 14, 2024, at 6:06 p.m. (Paris time);
• Or ? At the Kennedy Space Center, Florida;
• What will we see? Takeoff of the Falcon Heavy rocket.

Where to watch the SpaceX launch live?

You can follow the flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket live with the video feed made available by the American space agency. SpaceX does not plan any recovery of the boosters (lateral or central), because they are reaching the end of the cycle. SpaceX details on its site the major stages planned before and after takeoff.

What is the mission of Europa Clipper?

Today’s program consists of launching an exploration probe in the direction of Jupiter – it is precisely Europa, one of the main icy moons of the largest planet in the solar system, which interests scientists. The satellite is presumed to harbor an ocean beneath the surface. This involves looking at the “habitability” of the moon.

This mission, called Europa Clipper, was due to leave a little earlier. However, the passage of Hurricane Milton in Florida – one of the worst in recent decades – forced SpaceX and the American space agency to postpone takeoff by a few days. A first date was envisaged for October 13, then it was postponed by 24 hours.

Europa Clipper constitutes one of the major space missions of 2024. NASA has been thinking about it for years – it was in 2019 that this program was approved and two years later, the choice to launch the probe with a rocket Falcon Heavy has been announced. It should be noted that Europe also has a mission en route to Jupiter, named JUICE.

The journey that Europa Clipper is about to embark on to investigate the characteristics of the Jovian moon will be long. He will have to cover a distance of almost 3 billion kilometers. “Contact” between the probe and Europe is not expected for six years. As for the operational career of Europa Clipper, it is set for at least ten years.

Once in the vicinity of the Jovian system, in 2030, Europa Clipper, which has 24 engines, will carry out nearly 50 flybys of the moon. The salty ocean hidden under the layer of ice is suspected of being larger than all the Earth’s oceans combined – hence the numerous studies focusing on it, whether on water vapor or the currents.

Unlike 2023, which saw five Falcon Heavy flights, 2024 is a much quieter year for SpaceX’s largest operational rocket. She had only had one mission so far, at the beginning of the summer. Things are changing with a second flight organized this October 14. However, this will be the last of the year for this rocket.

The choice to use a Falcon Heavy is explained by the fact that Europa Clipper is a great customer. It is, according to NASA, the largest spacecraft ever developed by it for a planetary mission. It weighs 6 tonnes at launch and its solar panels, once deployed, will exceed 30 meters in length.

To go further

When does the Falcon Heavy rocket take off?

The start time is set for October 14, 2024 at 6:06 p.m. (Paris time). A fallback window exists on October 15, at 5:58 p.m.