We now are just over a month away from the launch of a single spacecraft worth around $5 billion. Over the last decade, this spacecraft, named Europa Clipper, has been undergoing development, testing, and now final preparations. The vehicle tasked with integrating and launching this payload is SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket.
Considering both its size and the distant destination of Jupiter, they needed a vehicle with immense power along with some unique characteristics. Here I will go more in-depth into the spacecraft itself, general mission progress, what to expect in the coming weeks, and more.
An Important Payload
Recently, only a few days ago on the 28th, NASA released a short statement regarding the spacecraft’s progress and timeline. Here they confirmed, “NASA’s Europa Clipper mission remains on track, with a launch period opening on Thursday, Oct. 10.” Over the last few months teams have been conducting extensive testing and analysis of transistors that help control the flow of electricity on the spacecraft. So far, analysis of the results suggests the transistors can support the baseline mission.
Significantly, later this month, currently scheduled for September 9th, NASA will make the final decision as to whether or not they’re ready to proceed with the launch. Assuming the spacecraft is working as intended and they don’t run into any complications, we should expect an approval and soon after, a launch.
The Falcon Heavy was picked thanks to its cost, power, fairing size, and also less obvious features such as reduced launch vibration. Originally NASA was planning on using the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket but ran into a few issues. These main issues being high cost, low availability, and a violent shaking during launch thanks to the solid rocket boosters that could damage the spacecraft. For all these reasons, the agency decided to make the switch to the Falcon Heavy.
However, the one thing SLS had going for it compared to Falcon Heavy was the trajectory and time of the journey. With the power of SLS, the agency could have launched the satellite on a direct trajectory to Jupiter, resulting in a trip lasting less than 3 years. On the other hand, using Falcon Heavy, Europa Clipper will need to make gravity-assist flybys of Mars and Earth, arriving at Jupiter five and a half years after launch. In other words, assuming it launches this October, it will arrive at its destination in 2030.
While the time trade-off is not ideal, the agency decided it was the better overall option due to the other reasons I mentioned before.
In terms of progress, teams have been practically non-stop working on the spacecraft as the launch date gets closer. Late last month the agency highlighted some of the work they had completed on the spacecraft’s solar arrays, which are massive. With its arrays deployed, the spacecraft spans more than 100 feet (30.5 meters).
Recently, the spacecraft finally got outfitted with the set of enormous solar arrays at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They have to be large so they can soak up as much sunlight as possible during the spacecraft’s investigation of Jupiter’s moon Europa, which is five times farther from the Sun than Earth is.
The “wings,” as the engineers call them, are so big that they could only be opened one at a time in the clean room of Kennedy’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where teams are readying the spacecraft for its launch period.
As for the spacecraft’s primary objective, its main science goal is to find out whether there are places below the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, that could support life. NASA explains that the mission’s three main science objectives are to understand the nature of the ice shell and the ocean beneath it, along with the moon’s composition and geology. The goal is that the mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.
In order to do this, Europa Clipper will perform dozens of close flybys of Jupiter’s moon Europa, gathering detailed measurements to investigate the moon. The spacecraft, in orbit around Jupiter, will make nearly 50 flybys of Europa at closest-approach altitudes as low as 16 miles (25 kilometers) above the surface, flying over a different location during each flyby to scan nearly the entire moon.
Importantly, a lot of recent work has been done to try and prepare the spacecraft for the radiation-heavy environment. However, the agency has found that some parts might not be able to withstand the radiation, which obviously would cause some problems.
Radiation Concerns
Back in July NASA released a statement highlighting some of the concerns related to radiation. Here they said, “Launch preparations are progressing with NASA’s Europa Clipper mission. The spacecraft arrived at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in May, where the team recently attached the high-gain antenna.
Engineers with NASA’s Europa Clipper mission continue to conduct extensive testing of transistors that help control the flow of electricity on the spacecraft. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission, began the tests after learning that some of these parts may not withstand the radiation of the Jupiter system, which is the most intense radiation environment in the solar system.”
They went on to say, “Tests also are being conducted at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The issue with the transistors came to light in May when the mission team was advised that similar parts were failing at lower radiation doses than expected. In June 2024, an industry alert was sent out to notify users of this issue. The manufacturer is working with the mission team to support ongoing radiation test and analysis efforts in order to better understand the risk of using these parts on the Europa Clipper spacecraft” they said.
For reference, the Jupiter system is particularly harmful to spacecraft as its enormous magnetic field, which is 20,000 times stronger than Earth’s magnetic field, traps charged particles and accelerates them to very high energies, creating intense radiation that bombards Europa and other inner moons.
In relation to this, they said, “Testing data obtained so far indicates some transistors are likely to fail in the high-radiation environment near Jupiter and its moon Europa because the parts are not as radiation-resistant as expected. The team is working to determine how many transistors may be susceptible and how they will perform in-flight. NASA is evaluating options for maximizing the transistors’ longevity in the Jupiter system. It appears that the issue that may be impacting the transistors on Europa Clipper is a phenomenon that the industry wasn’t aware of and represents a newly identified gap in the industry standard radiation qualification of transistor wafer lots” they said.
If anything could push this mission back, this relatively newly found complication absolutely could. Something we will likely hear more about on September 9th. When it comes to a mission this expensive and resource-intensive, you have to make sure this spacecraft is perfect and will last as long as possible. A small error could render entire experiments and necessary equipment useless.
To deal with the radiation, most of the spacecraft’s payload and other electronics will be enclosed in a thick-walled vault. This strategy of armoring up to go to Jupiter with a radiation vault was developed and successfully used for the first time by NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The vault walls – made of titanium and aluminum – will act as a radiation shield against most of the high-energy atomic particles, dramatically slowing down degradation of the spacecraft’s electronics.
Assuming everything goes to plan, the mission is hoping to provide a lot of invaluable data. Europa shows strong evidence for an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy crust. Beyond Earth, Europa is considered one of the most promising places where we might find currently habitable environments in our solar system. Europa Clipper will determine whether there are places below Europa’s surface that could support life.
The spacecraft’s payload will include cameras and spectrometers to produce high-resolution images and composition maps of Europa’s surface and thin atmosphere, an ice-penetrating radar to search for subsurface water, and a magnetometer and gravity measurements to unlock clues about its ocean and deep interior. The spacecraft will also carry a thermal instrument to pinpoint locations of warmer ice and perhaps recent eruptions of water, and instruments to measure the composition of tiny particles in the moon’s thin atmosphere and surrounding space environment.
Not long before launch, the arrival of the spacecraft and associated equipment at KSC marks the start of the final phase. The support equipment is unpacked, and the spacecraft is reassembled. Cables are laid out, and more baseline tests are conducted to ensure none of the systems were disturbed during shipment. Final checkouts are performed, the spacecraft is fueled, and then it goes to spacecraft integration with the launch vehicle.
Finally, after all this time, we watch the Falcon Heavy lift off with a very unique payload. Around February 2025 it’s expected to start its Mars gravity assist helping speed it toward Jupiter. If everything goes well related to radiation and longevity, the mission will conduct four years of science observations at Europa. Something to look forward to in the future.
Conclusion
If Europa Clipper stays on schedule, we can expect to see it lift off just over a month from now on October 10th. There have been a few concerns related to transistors but we will get the confirmation about a week from now on the 9th. With a total cost of around $5 billion and over a decade of work, its important that everything goes well on launch day.