NASA set to launch mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa in search of signs of life
NASA
(NEW YORK) — Marking the latest foray into space exploration, NASA is preparing to launch its first mission to explore Jupiter’s moon, Europa, to determine if it harbors conditions suitable to support life.
NASA’s Europa Clipper is set to launch on Oct. 10 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and will be carried into orbit on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, according to the agency.
The agency will invest approximately $5.2 billion in the entire life of the mission, which spans nearly two decades, beginning in 2015 and ending in 2034, according to a press release from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Europa is the fourth largest of Jupiter’s 95 moons, and planetary scientists believe this unique moon harbors a salty ocean beneath its icy crust.
NASA says the mission aims to answer the question: Does the global, subsurface ocean contain the organic compounds and energy sources necessary to sustain life?
“As an ocean world, Europa is very intriguing,” Gina DiBraccio, director of NASA’s planetary science division, said during a press briefing this month.
“This mission is going to help us to understand a complex piece of our solar system,” DiBraccio added.
NASA’s 100-foot-long and approximately 58-foot-wide Clipper probe is the largest spacecraft the agency has built for a planetary mission and will travel 1.8 billion miles to Europa.
The sizeable spacecraft was built with large solar arrays to collect enough light for its power needs as it operates in the Jupiter system, according to the agency.
The journey to Europa is long, with the flight there spanning roughly five-and-a-half years. NASA says the spacecraft will fire its engines to enter orbit around Jupiter in April 2030.
Once there, the spacecraft will conduct nearly 50 flybys of the planet at “closest-approach altitudes” as low as 16 miles above the surface to gather detailed measurements of the planet’s environment, according to NASA.
Throughout the mission, the spacecraft must fly through one of the “most punishing radiation environments in our solar system — second only to the Sun’s,” according to NASA.
The reason the environment is so challenging is that Jupiter is surrounded by a magnetic field that is 20,000 times stronger than Earth’s.
When the field spins, NASA reports, “it captures and accelerates charged particles, creating radiation that can damage the spacecraft.”
Because of this, the Europa Clipper is designed to shield sensitive electronics from radiation, and NASA researchers designed the spacecraft’s orbits to limit exposure to the most radiation-heavy areas around Jupiter.
If successful, the agency reports the mission will end in June 2034.
(NEW YORK) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is accusing Russia of using Chinese satellites to photograph nuclear power stations in Ukraine as part of preparations to potentially strike them.
Zelenskyy made the accusation in an interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts on Monday during a visit for the United Nations General Assembly this week in New York.
“The recent information is that, Russia has been using Chinese satellites and taking photos of the details of the objects on nuclear facilities,” Zelenskyy told Roberts. “And in our experience, if Russia takes photos of certain objects, then there is a threat of strikes against the nuclear objects.”
See more of Robin Roberts’ exclusive interview with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska at 8:30 p.m. ET Wednesday on ABC News Live and streaming on Hulu on Thursday.
Zelesnkyy did not say whether the Chinese satellites that Russia has used were commercial satellites or controlled by the Chinese government.
He said he would share the information Ukraine has with leaders who can influence Russia, calling it “nuclear terror.”
Asked to comment on Monday, China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond.
If confirmed, the use of Chinese satellites to photograph Ukrainian nuclear plants would be another example of Russia turning to China for assistance in the war. It would also raise questions about the strength of Russia’s own satellite capabilities.
Since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has turned heavily to China for assistance in supporting its economy, as well as keeping its military running. Although China has so far stopped short of directly providing weapons to Russia, Western countries and Ukraine have become increasingly concerned about the growing scale of China’s support for Moscow despite U.S. and allied sanctions.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell last week warned the U.S. believes China is now providing direct assistance to Russia, supplying military components.
“These are not dual-use capabilities,” Campbell told reporters in Brussels, according to Politico.
“These are component pieces of a very substantial effort on the part of China to help sustain, build and diversify various elements of the Russian war machine,” he added. “We’re seeing efforts at the highest levels of both governments to try to both hide and protect certain elements of this worrisome collaboration.”
Zelensky’s allegation that the satellite imagery indicates Russia may be preparing to hit the nuclear plants follows similar warnings from his foreign minister last week.
“According to Ukrainian intelligence, [the] Kremlin is preparing strikes on Ukrainian nuclear energy critical objects ahead of winter,” foreign minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X on Saturday.
The attacks would focus on the transmission substations and other “open distribution devices” at the nuclear stations, he wrote.
“Damage to those facilities creates a high risk of a nuclear incident with global consequences,” he wrote, adding Ukraine’s security services had shared the intelligence with its partners and that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been informed.
Before Russia’s invasion in 2022, Ukraine was operating four nuclear power stations. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been under Russian occupation since the first months of the invasion, but the other three remaining plants continue to supply Ukraine with power.
Some experts believe that while Russia is unlikely to directly target the reactors of nuclear plants, its frequent attacks on transformer substations linked to the plants pose a serious and worsening threat.
Russia “can and has extensively struck the transformer substations that deliver energy to the nuclear power plants and distribute power from the reactors to the rest of the country,” Dr. Jack Watling and Darya Dolzikova wrote in a report from the British defense think tank the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), this month. “Not only do such attacks prevent the distribution of energy from the remaining unoccupied reactors to the rest of the grid, but they also pose a serious nuclear safety risk.”
Damage to the transformers can disconnect the plants from off-site power supplies, disrupting the functioning of key reactor systems, but also preventing them from offloading energy to the grid, sometimes prompting emergency shutdowns of reactors, they wrote.
Russia’s campaign to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has inflicted heavy damage, with Ukrainian and Western officials warning the country faces an extremely difficult winter. Russian strikes have cut Ukraine’s capacity to generate energy by more than half, according to Ukrainian officials and independent experts.
Ukraine’s pre-war generation was between 32 to 25 gigawatts (GW) of power. But now the country struggles to produce just 9 GW, according to the RUSI report. Authorities this summer have imposed rolling blackouts to preserve the grid, with most Ukrainians already living without power for many hours a day.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during a Bi-Lateral meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at United Nations on September 25, 2024 in New York, New York. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits the White House on Thursday, the Biden administration is facing frustration from other western allies over its refusal to let Ukraine use western long-range missiles to strike deeper inside Russia.
The request is a priority for Zelenskyy that he is pressing for this visit, but so far the administration has seemed unyielding in its opposition. That has prompted unusual public expressions of frustration in recent days from some NATO countries.
The prime minister of Denmark, which has been a significant supplier of military aid, this week at the U.N. General Assembly said the public discussion of “red lines” had been a “mistake,” that is “simply giving the Russians too good a card in their hands.”
“It would be really good to stop the delays. And I think that the restrictions on the use of weapons should be lifted,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Bloomberg in a television interview.
Britain and France have both indicated they are ready to allow Ukraine to use their own long-range cruise missiles that they have supplied to hit inside Russia, but want the U.S. to give approval.
U.S. officials have briefed two key reasons for opposing the decision, saying they are concerned it could prompt Russian President Vladimir Putin to further escalate and that the strikes would make insufficient difference to the war, meaning the risk of escalation isn’t worth the military payoff.
Ukraine and some of its other key allies strongly disagree, arguing Putin is bluffing.
Zelenskyy in an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts for Good Morning America on Monday said Ukraine could use the missiles to hit airbases that Russia is using to drop hundreds of powerful bombs in eastern Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said he believed Britain, France, Germany and Italy were ready to allow the strikes but that the decision needed to come from the U.S.
“The main role is in the United States, in the president of United States, Biden. Everybody’s looking up to him, and — we need this to defend ourselves,” said Zelenskyy.
Putin has turned to loud nuclear saber-rattling in an effort to deter the U.S. from accepting Ukraine’s request. The Russian leader on Wednesday announced changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine clearly directed at Ukraine and U.S. The changes said Russia will now treat aggression from non-nuclear states supported by nuclear powers as a “joint attack.”
Putin’s loud threats suggest that the Kremlin at least does not agree with the U.S. assessment that allowing Ukraine to hit targets deeper inside Russia will make little difference to the war.
The U.S. has provided Ukraine with long-range missiles known as ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) that have a range of nearly 190 miles. Amid the debate over whether to let Ukraine use them deeper into Russian territory, Russia has moved back most of its aircraft to bases out of range of the missiles, reducing their potential effectiveness.
Germany, another key ally for Ukraine, though has expressed opposition to supplying its own long-range missiles, despite Ukraine’s requests. Germany’s leader Olaf Scholz this week again reiterated that refusal, saying it is “not compatible with my personal stance … We will not do that.”
Some U.S. political figures have suggested Germany’s opposition is also a concern to the Biden administration.
(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continued intense air and ground campaigns against Hezbollah in Lebanon and against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The uptick in offensive operations came after Israel marked the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault, and as Israeli leaders planned their response to Iran’s latest ballistic missile attack.
54 killed, 258 wounded in Lebanon in past 24 hours
In the past 24 hours, 54 people have been killed and 258 have been wounded in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
The total number of casualties since Israel’s increased attacks on Lebanon in mid-September is now 2,309 people killed and 10,782 people injured, the ministry said.
A situational report from the Lebanese Prime Minister’s Office on Monday said 200 airstrikes and shellings were recorded in various parts of Lebanon over the past 48 hours.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a release Monday that they found an underground compound in southern Lebanon stocked with “weapons, ammunition and motorcycles ready to be used in an invasion into Israel.”
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Jordana Miller
Netanyahu: ‘We will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon” while visiting the Golani camp, which was hit by a Hezbollah drone Sunday evening, killing four IDF soldiers and injuring dozens.
“I want to make it clear: We will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon — also in Beirut, all according to operational considerations. We have proven this in recent times, and we will continue to prove it in the coming days as well,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu extended his condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers and said he would visit the injured later on Monday.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Doctors Without Borders staffer killed in northern Gaza
A Doctors Without Borders staffer has been killed in northern Gaza, the organization announced Monday.
Nasser Hamdi Abdelatif Al Shalfouh, 31, was struck by shrapnel Tuesday and died of injuries to his legs and chest two days later, according to the organization.
He is survived by his wife and two children.
In a statement, Doctors Without Borders condemned Israeli forces for having “systematically dismantled the health system in Gaza, impeding access to life-saving care for people.”
“He was unable to receive the necessary level of care due to the hospital’s lack of capacity and an overwhelming number of patients in the facility,” the organization said of Al Shalfouh.
Al Shalfouh joined Doctors Without Borders as a driver in March 2023, but had not been able to work for them recently as operations have been impacted by the war, the group said.
He is the seventh Doctors Without Borders staffer to be killed in Gaza since the war began, the organization added.
“We are horrified by the killing of our colleague which we strongly condemn and call yet again for the respect and protection of civilians,” the NGO said. “In this tragic moment, our thoughts are with his family and all colleagues mourning his death.”
Americans in Lebanon should ‘depart now,’ embassy says
American citizens in Lebanon “are strongly encouraged to depart now,” the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said in a new alert Monday.
The embassy has been urging Americans to depart Lebanon via commercial flights in recent weeks. Monday’s warning was the starkest yet.
The embassy noted it had helped add thousands of extra seats to commercial flights to help Americans leave amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
“Much of this capacity has gone unused,” Monday’s alert said. “Please understand that these additional flights will not continue indefinitely.”
“U.S. citizens who choose not to depart at this time should prepare contingency plans should the situation deteriorate further,” the embassy said.
“These alternative plans should not rely on the U.S. government for assisted departure or evacuation,” the notice read.
The embassy has been warning citizens not to travel to Lebanon since July.
Airstrike kills 18 in north Lebanon, Red Cross says
Eighteen people were killed and four wounded in an airstrike in the town of Aitou in northern Lebanon on Monday, the Lebanese Red Cross wrote on X.Seven Red Cross teams were dispatched to the area in the Zgharta district, the organization said. “Our teams are working to provide first aid and evacuate the wounded,” it added.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Guy Davies
Hezbollah launches dozens of cross-border attacks, marking daily record
Hezbollah issued 38 statements claiming cross-border attacks into Israel on Sunday — the highest tally since renewed fighting began on Oct. 8, 2023, per ABC News’ count.
The attacks included the drone strike on an Israel Defense Forces training base in northern Israel, which killed four soldiers and injured 55.
Hezbollah has expanded its attacks into Israel despite the IDF’s monthslong campaign of targeted killings of top commanders and airstrikes on Hezbollah military facilities and weapons caches.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Guy Davies
IDF claims killing of Hezbollah anti-tank commander
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday it killed a Hezbollah commander responsible for anti-tank missile forces.
The IDF said in a statement posted to social media that Muhammad Kamal Naim was killed in an airstrike in the Nabatieh region of southern Lebanon.
Naim, it said, was responsible for the elite Radwan Force’s anti-tank weapons.
Naim “was responsible for planning and carrying out many terrorist plots, including firing anti-tank missiles at the Israeli rear,” the IDF wrote.
Israel kills 20 in strike on UNRWA school, health ministry says
At least 20 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East school-turned-shelter in central Gaza, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said.
The school was being used to shelter displaced people in Nuseirat camp, health authorities said. It was bombed on Sunday.
The school was earmarked for use in the planned second round of the Gaza polio vaccination campaign, which was due to begin on Monday.
-ABC News Diaa Ostaz and Guy Davies
10 killed amid ‘total siege’ in northern Gaza
Ten people were killed in shelling at an aid distribution center in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza on Monday morning, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the strip.
The area has been the focus of intense recent Israeli military activity, with the Israel Defense Forces reporting fierce fighting with Hamas militants there.
The IDF has ordered residents of northern Gaza — of whom there are an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 — to leave the region, which it has classified as a military zone.
Hamas is urging residents to stay, suggesting Israel will not allow those who leave to return.
Gaza’s Civil Defense said there was a “complete siege” of Jabalia. Aid agencies have said that no food has been allowed to enter the north of Gaza since Oct. 1.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Guy Davies
Israel to probe deadly drone attack on troops, Gallant says
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the scene of a deadly Hezbollah drone strike in northern Israel on Monday, telling soldiers there the incident “was a difficult event with painful results.”
Four troops were killed and 55 wounded in Sunday’s attack on the Golani Training Base close to the town of Binyamina, some 20 miles south of Haifa.
“We must investigate it, study the details and implement lessons in a swift and professional manner,” Gallant said, according to a Defense Ministry readout.
“We are concentrating significant efforts in developing solutions to address the threat of UAV attacks,” he added
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
IDF claims 200 strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday its warplanes targeted around 200 “Hezbollah terror targets” in its continuing operation against the Iranian-backed group in southern Lebanon.
The targets included “launchers, anti-tank missile launch posts, terrorist infrastructure and weapons storage facilities containing launchers, anti-tank missiles, RPG launchers and munitions,” the IDF wrote on X.
Ground forces, meanwhile, “eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters encounters and aerial strikes” in their ongoing cross-border incursion, the force reported.
The IDF is still describing its ground operation as consisting of “limited, localized, targeted raids” in southern areas close to the border.
Airstrikes, though, continue across southern Lebanon. Around a quarter of all Lebanese territory is under IDF evacuation orders and some 1.2 million civilians are displaced, according to the government in Beirut.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Hezbollah drone attack on IDF base ‘painful,’ commander says
The Israel Defense Forces identified the four soldiers killed in a Hezbollah drone attack on a training base in the north of the country on Sunday.
Sgt. Omri Tamari, Sgt. Yosef Hieb, Sgt. Yoav Agmon and Sgt. Amitay Alon were killed, an IDF press release said. The strike occurred at the Golani Training Base close to the town of Binyamina, some 20 miles south of Haifa.
Around 55 more are reported to have been injured.
IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi addressed Golani Brigade troops on Sunday night following the attack.
“We are at war, and an attack on a training base in the rear is difficult and the results are painful,” the commander said according to a post on the IDF’s official Telegram channel.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Israel strike on Gaza hospital kills 4, wounds dozens
At least four people were killed and 40 others wounded Monday in an Israeli airstrike on tents housing displaced Palestinians inside the Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza’s city of Deir al-Balah, health officials said.
The Israeli military said it targeted militants operating from a command center inside the compound. Israel accuses Hamas of routine use of civilian facilities such as hospitals for military purposes — a charge Hamas denies.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Defense Secretary Austin discusses safety of UNIFIL forces with Israel’s Gallant
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant by phone on Sunday to express his condolences for the IDF soldiers killed in a Hezbollah drone attack and discuss the IDF’s military operations in Lebanon.
According to a readout of the call from the Pentagon, Austin, “reinforced the importance of Israel taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of UNIFIL forces and Lebanese Armed Forces, and the need to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway to provide security for civilians on both sides of the border as soon as feasible.”
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon established by the U.N. Security Council.
The conversation comes after the IDF has repeatedly fired on the UNIFIL headquarters in southern Lebanon.
Additionally, Secretary Austin “reaffirmed the deep U.S. commitment to Israel’s security,” which he says is demonstrated by the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).
According to the Department of Defense, THAAD employs interceptor missiles, using “hit-to-kill” technology, to destroy threat missiles.
During the call, Austin “again raised concern for the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and stressed that steps must be taken soon to address it,” the Pentagon said.
At least 3 killed in IDF strike on Gaza hospital
At least three people were killed and dozens more were injured after Israel Defense Forces struck Al Aqsa Hospital in Gaza on Sunday.
