NASA's latest mission will attempt to establish if there is alien life on Jupiter.
The Europa Clipper mission will blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday (14.10.24) and the spacecraft will travel to the icy moon on the gas giant that could be home to a large ocean with double the amount of water that is present on Earth.
The spacecraft will search the surface of Europa for fingerprints of organic compounds and will attempt to smell gases released from the moon in order to find out whether it is habitable.
The mission had been due to start last week but was delayed at the last minute due to Hurricane Milton and scientists say it could provide tantalising clues about the prospect of life on other planets.
Mark Fox-Powell, a planetary microbiologist at the Open University, said: "If we discover life so far away from the Sun, it would imply a separate origin of life to the Earth.
"That is hugely significant, because if that happens twice in our solar system, it could mean life is really common."