NASA’s Europa Clipper Will get Set of Tremendous-Dimension Photo voltaic Arrays - NASA

The most important spacecraft NASA has ever constructed for planetary exploration simply received its ‘wings’ — huge photo voltaic arrays to energy it on the journey to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft not too long ago received outfitted with a set of huge photo voltaic arrays on the company’s Kennedy Area Heart in Florida. Every measuring about 46½ toes (14.2 meters) lengthy and about 13½ toes (4.1 meters) excessive, the arrays are the largest NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission. They need to be massive to allow them to take in as a lot daylight as doable throughout the spacecraft’s investigation of Jupiter’s moon Europa, which is 5 occasions farther from the Solar than Earth is.

The arrays have been folded up and secured in opposition to the spacecraft’s primary physique for launch, however once they’re deployed in area, Europa Clipper will span greater than 100 toes (30.5 meters) — just a few toes longer than an expert basketball courtroom. The “wings,” because the engineers name them, are so large that they might solely be opened one after the other within the clear room of Kennedy’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, the place groups are readying the spacecraft for its launch interval, which opens Oct. 10. 

In the meantime, engineers proceed to evaluate exams carried out on the radiation hardiness of transistors on the spacecraft. Longevity is vital, as a result of the spacecraft will journey greater than 5 years to reach on the Jupiter system in 2030. Because it orbits the gasoline big, the probe will fly by Europa a number of occasions, utilizing a set of science instruments to seek out out whether or not the ocean beneath its ice shell has situations that might assist life.

Powering these flybys in a area of the photo voltaic system that receives solely 3% to 4% of the daylight Earth will get, every photo voltaic array consists of 5 panels. Designed and constructed on the Johns Hopkins Utilized Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, and Airbus in Leiden, Netherlands, they’re much extra delicate than the kind of photo voltaic arrays used on houses, and the extremely environment friendly spacecraft will benefit from the ability they generate.

At Jupiter, Europa Clipper’s arrays will collectively present roughly 700 watts of electrical energy, about what a small microwave oven or a espresso maker must function. On the spacecraft, batteries will retailer the ability to run the entire electronics, a full payload of science devices, communications gear, the pc, and a complete propulsion system that features 24 engines.

Whereas doing all of that, the arrays should function in excessive chilly. The {hardware}’s temperature will plunge to minus 400 levels Fahrenheit (minus 240 levels Celsius) when in Jupiter’s shadow. To make sure that the panels can function in these extremes, engineers examined them in a specialised cryogenic chamber at Liège Area Heart in Belgium.

“The spacecraft is cozy. It has heaters and an energetic thermal loop, which maintain it in a way more regular temperature vary,” mentioned APL’s Taejoo Lee, the photo voltaic array product supply supervisor. “However the photo voltaic arrays are uncovered to the vacuum of area with none heaters. They’re utterly passive, so regardless of the setting is, these are the temperatures they get.”

About 90 minutes after launch, the arrays will unfurl from their folded place over the course of about 40 minutes. About two weeks later, six antennas affixed to the arrays will even deploy to their full measurement. The antennas belong to the radar instrument, which can seek for water inside and beneath the moon’s thick ice shell, and they’re huge, unfolding to a size of 57.7 toes (17.6 meters), perpendicular to the arrays.

“Initially of the challenge, we actually thought it might be almost inconceivable to develop a photo voltaic array robust sufficient to carry these gigantic antennas,” Lee mentioned. “It was tough, however the group introduced a number of creativity to the problem, and we figured it out.”

Extra In regards to the Mission

Europa Clipper’s three primary science goals are to find out the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its interactions with the ocean beneath, to research its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will assist scientists higher perceive the astrobiological potential for liveable worlds past our planet.

Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory leads the event of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with APL for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. APL designed the primary spacecraft physique in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Area Flight Heart in Greenbelt, Maryland, NASA’s Marshall Area Flight Heart in Huntsville, Alabama, and Langley Analysis Heart in Hampton, Virginia. The Planetary Missions Program Workplace at Marshall executes program administration of the Europa Clipper mission.

NASA’s Launch Providers Program, primarily based at Kennedy, manages the launch service for the Europa Clipper spacecraft, which can launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complicated 39A at Kennedy.

Discover extra details about Europa right here:

europa.nasa.gov

Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-6215
[email protected]

Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 202-358-1501
[email protected] / [email protected]

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