NASA aims to launch a rocket in October 2024 carrying a spacecraft that will fly all the way to Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa.
As well as a large team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a number of companies have been contracted to provide various services to assist with various parts of the mission, as has been the operational model for the more streamlined space agency since the year of the space race.
What is the mission?
Europa Clipper is an astrobiology mission, with a main scientific goal of seeing if there is an ocean below the icy surface of the moon, and whether it could support life.
Europe is one of the four largest of the 80 moons orbiting the fifth planet from the sun.
The Europa Clipper spacecraft will perform more than 40 close flybys of the moon to gather detailed measurements from various instruments, including radar.
At launch, the craft will be around the same size as a passenger van, weigh approximately 6,000kg, about 65% of which will be fuel, with solar panels spanning about 30 meters when fully unfolded.
It will fly out to Mars and then spin back to Earth, using orbital momentum on each of these "gravity assists" to gather the required velocity needed to reach Jupiter.
Once it does, it will spend roughly one year preparing its trajectory for three years of flybys, gathering data to send back to Earth.
Private companies working with NASA on the mission
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been selected to provide launch services under a US$178 million contract.
Its Falcon Heavy rocket has been booked for October next year from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This week, having signed a collaboration contract last November, Advanced Material Development was awarded a contract by NASA to provide its radar-absorbing nanomaterial technology.
The tech, which uses AMD’s proprietary thin-film coatings technology, will be put into foam panels for Europa Clipper spacecraft system-level for upcoming electromagnetic compatibility tests.
Following an initial successful testing phase, the UK nanotechnology company will now be manufacturing the product for JPL, AMD said.
AMD’s tech could help confirm whether the spacecraft’s sensitive ice-penetrating radar will operate properly at key frequencies so as to meet the mission's science objectives.
Not much else about outside contractors has been published by NASA, though it has said hardware for Europa Clipper is being developed at JPL and “at partner institutions and contractor facilities across the United States and Europe”.
This includes nine science instruments and other spacecraft components, such as the propulsion module, radio frequency module, solar arrays, star trackers, electronics vault, and more.