NASA's flagship Europa Clipper mission has successfully launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, embarking on its 1.8-billion-mile journey to Jupiter's most intriguing moon.

NASA's Europa Clipper Mission.

This is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever built for a planetary mission. Europa is completely encased in a shell of ice, but we know a vast, salty ocean lies beneath.

Europa Clipper won't land, but it will perform dozens of daring close flybys, using ice-penetrating radar and spectrometers to determine if that hidden ocean possesses the necessary chemical ingredients to support life.

This is arguably the most important astrobiology mission of our generation.