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University of Bern involved in NASA mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa

University of Bern involved in Nasa mission to Jupiter's moon Europa
University of Bern involved in Nasa mission to Jupiter's moon Europa Keystone-SDA

Four researchers from the University of Bern are taking part in NASA's mission to Jupiter's moon Europa. The aim of the mission is to examine the icy moon for evidence of extraterrestrial life.

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The researchers are part of the scientific team for the mission cameras, the Europa Imaging System (EIS) and the MASPEX mass spectrometer, the University of Bern said on Friday.

The Europa Clipper space probe, which is due to reach Jupiter’s moon Europa in April 2030, has nine scientific instruments that work synchronously and collect data.

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For this purpose, the probe will fly over the moon’s surface almost 50 times at an altitude of 25 kilometres, the statement said. During each flyby, Europa Clipper will hover over a different location to scan almost the entire moon.

The EIS camera system is also used here. The researchers hope to be able to use the EIS camera to determine whether there is liquid water near the surface of Europa. MASPEX will be used to investigate the chemistry of the moon’s suspected underground ocean.

The Europa Clipper is the largest space probe that NASA has ever built for a planetary mission. It started its 2.9 billion kilometre journey from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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