NASA forced to delay Europa Clipper launch as Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida

Earlier this month, NASA engineers completed the transfer of the Europa Clipper spacecraft to its hangar as the space agency prepared for this Thursday’s upcoming launch. However, due to Hurricane Milton’s impending landfall, NASA has officially issued a delay for the launch of the Europa Clipper mission.

The space agency shared plans to delay the launch of the mission in an official press release, noting that necessary steps have already been taken to secure the spacecraft within one of SpaceX’s hangars at Kennedy Space Center, along with the Falcon Heavy rocket that is expected to take it out of Earth atmosphere.

Unfortunately, the delay in the Europa Clipper launch could cause one of the most anticipated space missions of the year to suffer a setback. NASA has yet to share a revised plan for when it will launch the spacecraft, and with hurricane season still in full swing, the agency will need to battle Mother Nature to get things off the ground.

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A Falcon Heavy rocket like the one that will carry the Europra Clipper into orbit sits on the launch pad. Image source: SpaceX

Milton is a bit of a terror when it comes to hurricanes, as the storm jumped from a Category 1 to a destructive Category 5 in just seven hours. This puts the storm’s intensification pace just behind that of two previous record holders—Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and Hurricane Felix in 2007.

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This is at least the second setback that the Europa Clipper launch has experienced. The first happened back in July when some parts of the spacecraft were found to not be adequately equipped to handle the intense radiation expected in the Jovian system . However, the probe was cleared again in September and was expected to launch this month.

Alongside studying the Jovian system more closely , NASA plans to send the names of various individuals aboard the Europa Clipper spacecraft as a way to get the greater scientific community involved in things.

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