Escape from Europa's Gravitational Pull

Part 2: The Ice World Slingshot My hands were shaking, but I couldn't afford to panic.

I had 90 seconds until I needed to fire the auxiliary thrusters—assuming I could even get

them online. I was manually calibrating the escape course, trying to thread the needle between

a cluster of icy debris that was kicking up like dust in the solar wind.

I glanced out the viewport at Europa, the target of my desperate plan. It was stunning—a

cracked, marble-white ice shell reflecting the distant Sun. But that beauty

hides something amazing. Here’s the second space fact: scientists think there is a

massive, salty ocean hidden beneath Europa’s ice crust. This ocean could