Over a month into mission, Europa Clipper continues deploying instruments

Date:
Sun, 01 Dec 2024 21:05:27 +0000

Description:
On Oct. 14, NASAs groundbreaking Europa Clipper mission launched from Launch Complex 39A at the The post Over a month into mission, Europa Clipper continues deploying instruments appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

FULL STORY ======================================================================

On Oct. 14, NASAs groundbreaking Europa Clipper mission launched from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Falcon Heavys 27 Merlin engines and single vacuum-optimized Merlin engine sent Europa Clipper on a trajectory out of the Earth-Moon system at a speed of approximately 35 km/s relative to the Sun.

Over a month and a half into its mission, Europa Clipper is around 20 million km from Earth. Following its separation from the Falcon Heavy upper stage and initial communications and health checks, teams began working to deploy
Europa Clippers suite of instruments. Thus far, two instruments have been deployed and will stay deployed throughout the rest of the mission, as well
as a number of spacecraft elements needed for operations in space.



While the 20 million km the spacecraft has traveled thus far may seem like quite the journey, by the time Europa Clipper reaches Jupiter, it will have traveled over 2.9 billion km throughout the solar system and have performed two flybys of Mars and Earth. Once at Jupiter, the spacecraft will execute 49 flybys of Europa to characterize and investigate the icy moon in extreme detail, potentially revealing a world that features the conditions needed for life. Diagram of the Europa Clipper spacecraft and its instruments. (Credit: Caltech)

However, these critical science observations wont begin until the spacecraft is at Jupiter. Currently, teams are receiving only engineering data from the spacecraft, which tells them the health of the spacecraft and how its various components are adjusting to space. Thus far, teams have confirmed that everything on the spacecraft is healthy and performing as expected. See Also Europa Clipper Updates Space Science Section NSF Store Click here to Join L2

The first major spacecraft component to be deployed was Europa Clippers massive solar arrays, which, when extended, span the length of a basketball court. The deployment of the solar arrays was a critical moment for the missions teams, as the spacecraft could not perform its mission without their power. Fortunately, the arrays fully deployed as expected and are producing power for the spacecraft.

After solar array deployment, the spacecrafts magnetometer boom deployed. The boom extended from a small canister mounted on the side of the spacecraft bus and uncoiled to 8.5 m away from the spacecraft. Mission teams looked at the data from three sensors on the boom to confirm that it deployed as intended. These three sensors will be used to confirm the presence of a subsurface
ocean at Europa and provide scientists with details on its depth, salinity, and other characteristics.

Next was the deployment of several antennas used by the spacecrafts radar instrument. These four high-frequency antennas extended crosswise from the solar arrays, appearing as two long poles that each measure 17.6 m long. Additionally, eight very-high-frequency rectangular antennas were deployed, each measuring 2.76 m long. Two of these eight very-high-frequency antennas are located on the solar arrays.



Its an exciting time on the spacecraft, getting these key deployments done. Most of what the team is focusing on now is understanding the small, interesting things in the data that help them understand the behavior of the spacecraft on a deeper level. Thats really good to see, said Europa Clipper project manager Jordan Evans of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.

With the magnetometer boom and radar instrument now deployed, seven instruments await deployment/commissioning by mission teams. These
instruments will be repeatedly powered on and off throughout the next few weeks so that engineers can confirm their health and performance. Some of these instruments, such as the visible imager and gas and dust mass spectrometer, wont be fully deployed for the next three years to protect
their components from damage from the Sun as Europa Clipper travels through the inner solar system.

Once every instrument and spacecraft system has been checked out and
confirmed healthy, teams will begin preparing for Europa Clippers first flyby
a flyby of Mars on March 1, 2025. The flyby will serve as a gravity assist maneuver, during which Europa Clipper will use Mars gravity to increase its velocity, which, in turn, increases its orbits furthest point from the Sun
and brings its trajectory closer to Jupiters orbit.



In preparation for the flyby, teams have already had the spacecraft perform a single course correction maneuver to ensure Europa Clipper is on the correct trajectory to Mars. Once at Mars, mission scientists will use the flyby as an opportunity to confirm that their instruments are working as expected. Specifically, the thermal imager and radar instrument will be tested during this first flyby.

Europa Clippers Mars flyby is the first of two flybys the spacecraft will perform on its way to Jupiter. The spacecraft is set to perform a flyby of Earth in December 2026, during which its magnetometer instrument will measure Earths magnetic field.

(Lead image: Artists rendering of Europa Clipper at Europa. Credit: NASA)

The post Over a month into mission, Europa Clipper continues deploying instruments appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2024/12/europa-clipper-update/


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Science News (1337:1/100)