A mission to Europa helped save Earth's future in Star Trek: Picard season 2, and NASA is now undertaking a similar mission in real life. Star Trek: Picard season 2's science fiction was a time travel escapade where Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) journeyed to 2024 Los Angeles and met his ancestor, Dr. Renée Picard (Penelope Mitchell). Renée was the mission specialist of NASA's expedition to Europa, which was a pivotal moment in human history Q (John de Lancie) changed to create the dark alternate reality ruled by the Confederation of Earth.
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In October 2024, NASA will launch the Europa Clipper mission, an expedition that will take 5 years to reach Jupiter's moon. The purpose of the Europa Clipper is to make almost 50 flybys of Europa to determine whether there are places below Europa’s surface that could support life. NASA also encourages people to sign their names to the "Message in a Bottle" being sent on the Europa Clipper. In addition, U.S. Poet Laurate Ada Limón composed a poem, “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa”, which you can watch in the video below:
How NASA's Real Europa Mission Differs From Star Trek: Picard Season 2
It's amazing how similar the Europa Clipper mission is to Star Trek: Picard season 2's Europa mission in many ways. Renée Picard's flight to Jupiter's oceanic moon altered the course of Star Trek's history. Renée discovered a sentient microorganism on Europa that she brought back to Earth.
The microorganism became the key to rescuing Earth from the devastation of climate change. After the planet survived Star Trek's version of World War III, First Contact with the Vulcans on April 5, 2063, opened the door for the human race to make poverty, racism, and the pursuit of money obsolete and refashion itself as a spacefaring race, first by founding Starfleet and then the United Federation of Planets.
NASA's Europa Clipper mission could be historic in its own right if the scientists are able to discover proof that Europa could support life. The Europa mission isn't looking to make contact with alien lifeforms like Starfleet is in Star Trek, but evidence suggests Europa supports a global ocean with more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined.
Europa could have all the “ingredients” needed for life as we know it. Whether NASA's Europa Clipper mission was inspired by Star Trek: Picard season 2 isn't clear, but it may be more than cosmic coincidence that Renée Picard's Europa mission and NASA's Europa Clipper mission both launch in 2024.
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