NASA launches mission to Jupiter's moon

NASA launched a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa on Monday.

The SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with a NASA spacecraft, the Europa Clipper, took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA says it will travel 1.8 billion miles to reach Jupiter by April 2030.

Once in Jupiter's orbit, the spacecraft will conduct nearly 50 flybys of Europa, which scientists say has evidence of the ingredients for life.

"All the science instruments will operate simultaneously on every flyby, and scientists will then layer the data together to paint a full picture of Europa," NASA says.

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The goal of the mission is to determine the thickness of Europa's icy shell and how it interacts with the ocean below.

Europa Clipper reportedly won't be searching for life, but it could provide more evidence that there are "ingredients necessary for life to exist."

Spanning more than 100 feet, NASA’s Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft the agency has ever built for a planetary mission, the agency says.

The Associated Press reports that this mission costs $5.2 billion.