A NASA spacecraft successfully completed its launch on Monday local time. The spacecraft is preparing to head to Jupiter and Europa, one of its 95 moons. Europa is considered one of the most promising places to discover life beyond the earth.

"Europa Clipper" was launched on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. It will not search for life itself, but will use remote sensing technology to peer under Europa's icy shell to determine whether the conditions there can support the existence of life;

Finding the microbes lurking there will require another mission. Its massive solar panels make Europa Clipper the largest spacecraft NASA has built to survey another planet; it will take five and a half years to reach Jupiter, a round trip of 1.8 billion miles.

The spacecraft will have to travel through Jupiter's radiation belts as it orbits the gas giant and will fly within 16 miles of Europa's surface, much closer than any other spacecraft.NASA was originally scheduled to launch the Europa Clipper last Thursday, but the launch had to be postponed due to the impact of Hurricane Milton.