NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft is set to launch this month aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, aiming to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa, a prime candidate for extraterrestrial life.

The mission will assess whether Europa’s subsurface ocean, located beneath an icy crust, could support life today, rather than searching for life directly.

With a mission cost of $5.2 billion, Clipper is the largest NASA spacecraft designed for planetary investigation, set to reach Jupiter in 2030 after a journey of 5.5 years, the Associated Press has reported.

It will fly within 16 miles of Europa’s surface and make 49 close passes before concluding with a controlled crash into Ganymede in 2034.

Written by B.C. Begley