Nasa’s Europa Clipper Is Launching Ada Limón’s Poem On A 2-billion-mile Journey

As the current United States Poet Laureate, Ada Limón can command a large audience. But her work is about to reach almost beyond imagination. Limón’s poem, “In Praise of Mystery,” is set to rocket off the planet on NASA’s Europa Clipper for a 1.8 billion-mile journey to Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa. The massive effort by a host of agencies is being headed up by Caltech and JPL in Pasadena. SEE ALSO: Sign up for our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more The Europa Clipper’s launch date is being rescheduled because of Hurricane Milton, but the poem is ready to go: It was etched in Limon’s handwriting on a vault plate attached to the hull of the craft, which will orbit the moon 50 times or so, gathering data to see if there are areas that could support life. Along with the poem, the craft carries a visual representation of the word “water” in 103 languages; since the presence of water is something both Earth and Europa share, there’s hope that an ocean exists under the icy surface.