Europa Clipper

Falcon Heavy rises off of LC-39A early in the afternoon on October 14, 2024 Photo: Charles Boyer / TOT

NASA and SpaceX began Europa Clipper’s journey to Jupiter and its moon Europa aboard a Falcon Heavy this afternoon from Kennedy Space Center. Launch was at 12:06 PM EDT under bluebird skies and pleasant temperatures.

Falcon Heavy in flight on October 14, 2024 carrying the Europa Clipper probe for NASA. Photo: Charles Boyer / TOT

At 1:11 PM EDT, SpaceX confirmed the successful deployment of Europa Clipper, with the probe now heading towards Mars to begin its looping journey through the solar system.

Europa Clipper Has A Very Long Journey Ahead

Europa Clipper now begins a roughly six-year 1.8 billion mile journey to the Jovian system which will include two gravity assists and flybys around the Sun before it reaches its destination.

Once it arrives in its orbit around Jupiter, Europa Clipper will perform nearly fifty flybys of Europa, where its instruments will scan the Jovian moon’s oceans for potential signs of life. To date, this is the largest planetary probe NASA has ever flown, and in NASA’s estimation, Europa Clipper would cover an entire regulation basketball court.

Europa Clipper’s 5.5 year path to Jupiter.
Graphic: NASA

By The Numbers

Today’s launch was the eleventh Falcon Heavy launch, all from LC-39A. To date, each mission has been successful.

Today’s launch was the last Falcon Heavy slated to fly for this year and some months into 2025: the heavy lifter has the VIPER lunar rover, the NASA Lunar Gateway PPE & HALO mission along with two Space Force missions on the dock for next year, but this far in advance it is impossible to know when payloads will be ready.

This was the sixth and final flight for the two side-boosters, B1064 and B1065, which one year ago today supported NASA’s Psyche mission, as well as three missions for the US Space Force and one for Hughes Electronics.

Overall, it was the 184th orbital (and beyond) launch from historic Launch Complex 39A.

Launch Replay

Next Launch

Space fans in Florida won’t have to wait long for the next launch. Now that the FAA has cleared Falcon 9 to resume commercial Falcon family launches, SpaceX plans to resume Starlink launches from Space Launch Complex 40 overnight tonight when it launches Starlink 10-10. The launch window opens at 1:34 AM EDT and closes at 5:26 AM the same day.

  • Date: NET October 15, 2024
  • Organization: SpaceX
  • Mission: Starlink 10-10
  • Rocket: Falcon 9
  • Launch Site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
  • Launch Window: 1:24 AM – 5:26 AM EDT
  • Payload: Starlink satellites
Falcon Heavy liftoff on October 14, 2024
Photo: Ed Cordero, Florida Media Now
Read more

A Falcon Heavy launching from Kennedy Space Center earlier this year.
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville

The launch schedule for the Europa Clipper mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy remains uncertain today after Hurricane Milton’s passing through the Space Coast region.

Effects of Hurricane Milton

Originally scheduled to launch on October 10, the launch was postponed in advance of Hurricane Milton’s approach and the payload and rocket were both secured for the approaching storm.

Today, a little more than a day after Milton’s surviving eye wall passed through the Space Coast region, NASA and SpaceX are checking for damage to the facilities on the base.

According to NASA, “Once the winds subsided to a safe level [yesterday], the center’s Ride Out Team and engineering teams began initial checkouts to ensure bridges are safe and useable. Later, a larger assessment team will thoroughly check the entire center.”

The eye of Hurricane Milton as it passed over the east coast of Florida on October 10th.
Data: National Weather Service, KLMB weather radar, Tilt 1.

Part of that check will of course be the LC-39A infrastructure used to launch Falcon Heavy, as well as other buildings and infrastructure necessary to support the launch. That will also include areas not on Kennedy Space Center proper, for example, the Space Launch Delta 45 supports launch tracking, safety and weather, and they too much give the all-clear prior to a launch. (UPDATE: Space Launch Delta 45 issued an all-clear at 2PM October 11)

From the US Space Force, post-Milton.
Photo: Space Launch Delta 45

The eye of the storm went offshore somewhere near Titusville and Kennedy Space Center about 4 AM EDT on Thursday, but the region continued to experience sustained winds well into the day before finally subsiding late in the afternoon.

Extremely Tentative Plans For Sunday

Neither NASA nor SpaceX have officially announced a launch date for Europa Clipper, with NASA saying yesterday that “The agency’s Europa Clipper launch team will schedule an official launch date when teams from NASA and SpaceX are able to perform their assessments, and confirm it’s safe to launch. Teams are working to protect launch opportunities no earlier than Sunday, Oct. 13.”

The agency added that the launch window for this mission extends until November 6th.

Weather should not be a problem for the launch team from Sunday onward into next week, as the general weather forecast for the region calls for sunny skies.

National Weather Long-Term forecast for Cape Canaveral
Retrieved Friday, October 11th at 12:45 PM EDT

Launch Licensing?

The FAA currently has a hold on the Falcon family launches while the company investigates a second-stage anomaly with Crew 9, but that will not be a problem for this launch as it will be licensed by NASA.

Talk of Titusville reached out to the FAA for clarification, and they replied, “An FAA license is not required for space activities the government carries out for the government, such as some NASA or Department of Defense launches. The Europa Clipper mission is being done by and for NASA.”

As such the FAA’s required investigation will not be a factor for this launch.

Update 7PM EDT 11 OCT 24: Falcon 9 Has Been Cleared For Flight By FAA. This should answer any license questions about Falcon Heavy as well.

Read more