NASA's Europa Jupiter Mission will be packed with humanity's messages

March 8 (UPI) -- NASA said Friday the Europa Clipper Jupiter mission set to launch in October will carry profound messages from humanity as it gathers scientific data to determine if there are life-supporting conditions.

The Europa Clipper spacecraft will be headed for Jupiter's moon, Europa.

In addition to scientific instruments for experiments and data collection, it will include an engraving of U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limon's handwritten "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa."

A silicon chip with more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public is included as the centerpiece of a bottle amid the Jovian system, a reference to NASA's "Messaged In a Bottle Campaign" that invited those names to be submitted.

A 7 by 11 inch plate made of the metal tantalum features waveform engravings of the word "water" in 103 languages.

It includes the Drake Equation etched onto the plate.

That's Astronomer Frank Drake's mathematical formulation from 1961 to estimate the possibility of finding advanced extraterrestrial civilizations.

"We've packed a lot of thought and inspiration into this plate design, as we have into this mission itself," said NASA Project Scientist Robert Pappalardo in a statement. "It's been a decades-long journey, and we can't wait to see what Europa Clipper shows us at this water world."

According to NASA, the main science goal of the mission is to determine whether there are places below Jupiters icy moon Europa that might support life.

The spacecraft will try to determine the thickness of the icy shell on that moon and its surface interactions with the ocean below it. The composition of the ice will also be investigated in an effort to characterize its geology.

The Europa Clipper will fly by Jupiter's moon 50 times to gather the data. If successful the mission will help scientists understand ocean worlds like Europa.