Europa, a very enigmatic moon orbiting the far-off planet Jupiter, is its target.
A huge ocean with twice as much water as Earth might be trapped beneath its freezing surface.
The Europa Clipper spacecraft will use a cosmic piggyback to overtake and arrive ahead of a European mission that departed last year.
Although it won’t happen until 2030, the results could alter our understanding of solar system life.
Five times as brilliant as our moon
Hurricane Milton hit Florida this week, causing a last-minute delay in the launch of the Europa Clipper, which had been planned for years.
After inspecting the launchpad at Cape Canaveral for damage, engineers have officially approved lift-off at 1206 local time (1706 BST) on October 14, despite the spacecraft being hurried within for shelter.
Planetary microbiologist Mark Fox-Powell of the Open University says, “If we find life so far away from the Sun, it would imply a separate origin of life to the Earth.”
He claims that if it occurs twice in our solar system, it could indicate that life is extremely widespread, which makes it extremely significant.
Europa is somewhat larger than our moon, but that is the extent of the resemblance. Europa is 628 million kilometers from Earth.
It would glow five times brighter if it were in our skies due to the water ice.
