What NASA’s mission to Jupiter moon can – and can’t – achieve
Ever since the Galileo spacecraft flew by Jupiter’s icy moons in 1989, scientists interested in life beyond our planet have been desperate to go back.
Europa Clipper, which blasted off from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, is doing just that.
Galileo found clear evidence that while Ganymede, Calisto and Europa have barren frozen surfaces, beneath them likely lie vast oceans of water.
And, as far as any astrobiologist knows, where there’s water there’s a chance of life.
Kept liquid by Jupiter’s huge tidal forces, Europa’s ocean may be the Solar System’s largest.
Artist’s illustration of the Europa Clipper spacecraft over the Europa moon, with Jupiter in the background. Pic: NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP
Up to 100 miles deep, containing twice the volume of water in all Earth’s oceans, this ocean makes it a prime candidate for exploration.
After a six-year, 1.8 billion-mile journey, Europa Clipper – the largest planetary science mission ever launched by NASA – will spend four years orbiting Jupiter making flybys of its icy moon.
It will use nine instruments to image the surface of the moon to study its atmosphere, measure the thickness of the icy crust, confirm the presence of the ocean and attempt to measure its depth and saltiness.
But before we get too excited, if there’s life on Europa, Europa Clipper won’t “see” it squirming around beneath the ice.
First, the crust is thought to be at least 10 miles thick, too deep for the weak Sun at Jupiter to penetrate.
The Europa Clipper spacecraft being tested in April. Pic: Reuters
Without photosynthesis, if life exists, it is expected to be more akin to the bacteria that lurk in the blackness around hydrothermal vents deep on the sea floor here on Earth.
On Europa, it may live off geothermal heat, or even Jupiter’s radiation fields for energy, and simple organic molecules for food.
But we’re getting beyond Europa Clipper’s remit, which is to confirm whether the environment on the moon is compatible with these theories.
A major bonus would be whether Europa Clipper spots a plume of water erupting from the surface of the moon, which it is known to do on other icy moons. That would mean the chemicals present in the water below can be analysed directly.
“If there are life-forming conditions we expect they’re deep down in the dark,” said Dr Adam Masters, a space scientist at Imperial College London.
Europa Clipper blasted off under sunny skies
“So when the water comes to you, that saves a lot of hassle,” he said.
The chances of getting answers are doubled however. Dr Masters works on another mission, the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE).
It arrives at Jupiter shortly after Europa Clipper and will study Europa as well as another prime candidate for life, Jupiter’s moon Ganymede.
But even if these missions find tantalising chemical evidence of life, confirming its existence, let alone understanding its alien biology, would be decades away.
For that reason, one of the probes’ other objectives is to look for potential landing sites on one of these icy moons.
If Europa Clipper and JUICE finds evidence that Jupiter’s moons have the right conditions for life, the challenge for future space scientists will be figuring out how to get through miles of ice to see it.
Two military personnel have been shot near the White House in Washington DC.
A suspect has been taken into custody and the area secured, police said.
The White House was placed into lockdown, while US President Donald Trump is away in Florida.
Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform to say the two National Guard members had been “critically wounded”, adding that the “animal” that shot them “is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price”.
Washington DC shooting latest updates
Pics: AP
Both guardsmen were shot in the head, according to Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, quoting an official and a senior official directly briefed on the investigation.
The shooting will be investigated by the FBI as a possible act of terror, two senior US law enforcement officials told NBC.
The suspect, who used a handgun in the attack, has been initially identified as an Afghan national, the officials said.
But investigators are still trying to confirm all of the individual’s details.
West Virginia’s governor initially said both victims were members of his state’s National Guard and had died from their injuries – but later posted to say there were “conflicting reports about the condition of our two Guard members”.
Patrick Morrisey had said: “These brave West Virginians lost their lives in the service of their country.”
Pic: AP
FBI director Kash Patel said two National Guard members were “brazenly attacked in a horrendous act of violence”.
At a news conference he clarified they were in a “critical condition”.
Jeff Carroll, chief of the metropolitan police department in the area, said the attack began at 2.15pm local time (7.15pm in the UK) while National Guard members were on “high visibility patrols in the area”.
He said: “A suspect came around the corner, raised his arm with a firearm and discharged it at the National Guard.
“The National Guard members were… able to – after some back and forth – able to subdue the individual and bring them into custody.”
Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser called the attack a “targeted shooting”.
Pics: AP
Social media footage showed first responders attempting CPR on one of the soldiers as they treated the other on a pavement covered in glass.
Nearby other officers could be seen restraining an individual on the ground.
Emergency personnel cordon off an area near where the National Guard soldiers were shot. Pics: AP
The scene has been cordoned off by police tape, while agents from the US Secret Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on the scene, as National Guard troops stood sentry nearby. The FBI was also on the scene, the agency’s director said.
The Joint DC Task Force confirmed it was responding to an incident in the vicinity of the White House.
The DC Police Department posted on X: “Critical Incident: MPD is on the scene of a shooting at 17th and I Street, NW. Please avoid the area.”
In an update, the force said: “The scene is secured. One suspect is in custody.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “The White House is aware and actively monitoring this tragic situation.
“The president has been briefed.”
Mr Trump was at his resort in Palm Beach ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, while US vice president JD Vance was in Kentucky.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said Mr Trump had asked for 500 more troops to be deployed to Washington DC after the shooting.
Flights arriving at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were temporarily halted due to its proximity to the scene of the shooting, the US Federal Aviation Administration said.
Hundreds of National Guard members have been patrolling the nation’s capital after Mr Trump issued an emergency order in August, which federalised the local police force and sent in the guard from eight states and the District of Columbia.
Charges against Donald Trump and others in an election interference case in the US state of Georgia have been dismissed.
Pete Skandalakis, the prosecutor who recently took over the case, said in court papers on Wednesday that he has decided to take no further action.
It was unlikely the legal action against the US president could have progressed while he was still in office, but the 14 others – including Mr Trump’s personal lawyer, the former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, and ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows – had still faced charges.
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Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani was among those charged. File pic: AP/Ted Shaffrey
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis announced the charges in 2023. Pic: AP
The case was dismissed in full by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee after Mr Skandalakis submitted his decision.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had alleged a wide-ranging conspiracy to illegally overturn Mr Trump’s narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the key swing state in the 2020 presidential election.
Charges against Mr Trump centred around a phone call he made to Georgia’s top election official, secretary of state Brad Raffensperger.
Mr Trump told his fellow Republican: “I just want to find 11,780 votes”, recordings of the conversation showed.
Mr Trump and 18 co-defendants were initially accused.
Four of the accused made plea deals with prosecutors, while the others, including Mr Trump, Mr Giuliani and Mr Meadows, pleaded not guilty.
A police mugshot taken of Donald Trump after he was booked on 13 election fraud charges in Georgia. Pic: Reuters
An angry-looking Mr Trump was pictured as he was booked on the charges at the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, and copies of the mugshot generated sales of more than $7m (£5.3m) in a matter of days, his campaign said.
In a 22-page memo explaining his decision, Mr Skandalakis noted the entire case is “without precedent,” and pointed in part to the challenges of trying a case against a sitting president.
Mr Skandalakis wrote: “In my professional opinion, the citizens of Georgia are not served by pursuing this case in full for another five to ten years”.
He said he was ending the case “to serve the interests of justice and promote judicial finality” and his decision is “not guided by a desire to advance an agenda but is based on my beliefs and understanding of the law”.
Mr Trump’s lawyer in the case, Steve Sadow, welcomed the end of what he called a “political persecution” of the US president.
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“This case should never have been brought. A fair and impartial prosecutor has put an end to this lawfare,” he said.
Ms Willis, who brought the case in August 2023, was disqualified from prosecuting it last December.
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An appeals court in the state capital, Atlanta, ruled that a romantic relationship she had with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she chose to lead the case, created “a significant appearance of impropriety.”
Defence lawyers claimed the district attorney profited from the case when Wade used his earnings to pay for holidays the pair took.
She appealed the verdict, but lost her case in September, despite Mr Wade having quit his role.
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