Europa Clipper

View: https://twitter.com/nasa_lsp/status/1844025322909335862


The encapsulated #EuropaClipper spacecraft was transported to the SpaceX hangar at Launch Complex 39A on Friday, Oct 4. Teams secured the spacecraft in the hangar and @NASAKennedy began hurricane preparations on Sunday, Oct 6.

Hurricane #Milton is heading east through the Gulf of Mexico, towards Florida.

“The safety of launch team personnel is our highest priority, and all precautions will be taken to protect the Europa Clipper spacecraft” – Tim Dunn, LSP senior launch director for Europa Clipper
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View: https://twitter.com/NASAKennedy/status/1844496905814016304

Kennedy's Ride Out Team is conducting an initial assessment of the center. The majority of the impacts observed at this time are minor damage to doors, traffic lights, awnings, and small trailers.

The Damage Assessment and Recovery Team, or DART, will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the center prior to determining conditions are safe for employees to return on-site.
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1844493300281246049
View: https://twitter.com/LaurieofMars/status/1844493300281246049


See the latest @NASA blog for an update on activities at @NASAKennedy post #HurricaneMilton. Need to make sure we are taking our time & that all is safe to go, so we are working toward a @EuropaClipper launch no earlier than Sunday Oct. 13 at 12:12 PM. ️https://blogs.nasa.gov/europaclipper/
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L-2 weather forecast. 70% 'Go' for October 13. 80% 'Go' for October 14. 90% 'Go' for October 13. Solar Activity risk is Moderate for October 13 and Low-Moderate for October 14-15. All other Additional Risk Criteria are Low.
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NASA, SpaceX Targeting NET Oct. 14 for Europa Clipper Launch
Caption: Workers transport NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft from the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility to the SpaceX hangar at Launch Complex 39A on the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 4, 2024.

NASA and SpaceX are now targeting no earlier than Monday, Oct. 14, for the launch of Europa Clipper. Following Hurricane Milton, teams are continuing to do checkouts to ensure flight readiness.

Author Laura Aguiar
Posted on October 11, 2024
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View: https://twitter.com/spaceoffshore/status/1845185100398374960


SpaceX's fairing recovery ship, GO Cosmos, is an incredible 2070 km (1287 miles) downrange from the launch pad to recover the fairing halves for the Europa Clipper mission.
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View: https://twitter.com/cbs_spacenews/status/1845875922475372996


View: https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1845875957715898733
 
This particular Falcon Heavy really maxed out its fuel ..... I have never seen one that burn for such long duration for its boosters and core ..... and without landing legs as extra mass, I can only imagine the velocity the payload can achieve ......
 
I just checked Europa Clipper and JUICE Wikipedia pages. Never realized before they will work together, it's a massive onslaught on Jupiter's moons ! 2032 in particular will be thrilling.
 
It’s all gone a bit quiet on the Europa Clipper front. There’s been no more info on the red flags they were getting on its propulsion system, whether these have been resolved or not. We are left with a confusing audio that commissioning of the prop system may have been off nominal.

The longer this goes without some news, the more I suspect something isn't right with the early ops phase of the mission.

Compare that to all the info we’ve had about Hera post launch from ESA and they aren’t always the most communicative.
 
Though it’s downlinking on DSN that doesn’t mean much with solar panels the size it has as they wouldn’t need to be all that optimally aligned this close to Earth.
 
Europa Clipper has put out a couple of Tweets now which is a more positive sign. Hopefully NASA will actually say something soon.
 
The forced marriage of Europa Clipper and SLS and the inevitable divorce

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDpc9ERitTE


Oct 16, 2024
Europa Clipper is on the way to Jupiter after an old-school, fully-expendable Falcon Heavy launch. NASA used all that performance to send the spacecraft out to Mars for the first of two gravity assists that will get it to Jupiter and its multi-flyby mission of the moon Europa.

Falcon Heavy was Europa Clipper's second marriage; originally Congress put the spacecraft together with SLS eight years ago. This video goes into the reasons why that marriage didn't work well for Europa Clipper or SLS and why seemingly no one objected to the divorce before or after it quietly became official in late 2020.

"On paper," SLS has enough performance to throw Europa Clipper directly from Earth to Jupiter and in about three years, but few seemed enthusiastic about it during that time between the end of 2015 and then end of 2020. Artemis, Exploration Ground Systems, and SLS did end up getting a second Mobile Launcher out of it, and we'll go into how Europa Clipper somehow helped make that happen.

Imagery is courtesy of NASA, except where noted.

00:00 Intro, Europa Clipper on its way to Jupiter for dozens of Europa flybys
01:02 Ironically, there was an SLS waiting for a launch in Florida this year
01:45 Multiple issues with flying Europa Clipper on SLS, but enthusiasm seemed lukewarm before that
04:55 Former representative John Culberson is the reason Europa Clipper is flying today
05:50 At one time, there was a chance that Europa Clipper would fly on the second SLS
07:35 How Mobile Launcher-2 kept Europa Clipper's launch date from slipping in 2018
12:13 Europa Clipper on SLS was a low priority, behind Artemis III, behind EUS
13:30 Recent Aviation Week Q&A with Mr. Culberson
14:03 SLS compatibility fixes were possible, but not easy, not cheap, and not fast
16:09 Thanks for watching!
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[/quote]
 
In regards to what the Europa Clipper might find here's an interesting video by Geo Girl:


Check out part 1 all about the Europa Geology on ‪@GEOGIRL‬ : • Europa Geology & What it Means for Li... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFDADvxjGpo&t=0s
Watch Europa Clipper launch live on NASA's channel! - https://www.youtube.com/live/lQToTWKw...https://www.youtube.com/live/lQToTWKwtuw?si=OR0la55dt_G4IS9W
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References & Resources:
NASA Europa facts page: https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/moon...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...iter/moons/europa/europa-facts/&v=L8EMolOokYo
NASA Europa Clipper Science page: https://europa.nasa.gov/mission/science/https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...uropa.nasa.gov/mission/science/&v=L8EMolOokYo
NASA Europa Clipper main mission page: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/euro...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...asa.gov/mission/europa-clipper/&v=L8EMolOokYo
NASA Europa Team page: https://europa.nasa.gov/mission/the-t...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev....gov/mission/the-team/overview/&v=L8EMolOokYo
NASA Mission Info page (Discovery vs New Frontiers vs Flagship): https://www.nasa.gov/planetarymission...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...etary-mission-program-overview/&v=L8EMolOokYo
Leonard et al., 2024 (First USGS Global Geologic Map of Europa!): https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/sim...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...bs.usgs.gov/publication/sim3513&v=L8EMolOokYo
Images of Clipper at KSC: https://images.nasa.gov/album/SpaceX_...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...um/SpaceX_Europa_Clipper?page=1&v=L8EMolOokYo
Great images of Europa’s chaos terrain and bands: https://www.nasa.gov/solar-system/new...
An amazing paper that Dr. Leonard is a co-author on all about the Geology Europa Clipper will do (with amazing figures too)! Daubar et al., 2024- https://link.springer.com/article/10....https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...icle/10.1007/s11214-023-01036-z&v=L8EMolOokYo
Pappalardo, 2010: Seeking Europa's Ocean- http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1743921310...
Roberts et al., 2023: Exploring the Interior of Europa with the Europa Clipper- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-023-00...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev....org/10.1007/s11214-023-00990-y&v=L8EMolOokYo
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Video Chapters:
0:00 Intro- What is Europa Clipper?
1:02 Check out Part 1 on Europa Geology
!2:05 Dr. Leonard's Role on Europa Clipper Team
3:25 What is Europa & Why Are We Going There?
4:05 Why Flyby rather than Orbit or Land?
5:40 Radiation Shielding on Clipper
7:08 Why a Flagship Mission?
8:32 Science Goals of the Mission
9:13 Investigating if Europa is Habitable
10:55 Are we going to drill into its ocean?
11:35 What kind of life might be on Europa?
13:40 Europa life vs Earth life origins
14:28 Instruments on Europa Clipper
17:38 How gravity tells us about Europa's Interior
19:13 Will we fly through any plumes?
20:19 JUICE Clipper Collaborations!
22:27 Mission Timeline!
24:50 Where to follow along!
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Scott Manley

NASA's Biggest Space Probe & SpaceX's Biggest Rocket To Help Answer The Biggest Questions

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYieX09IgXw


Oct 20, 2024
NASA's Europa Clipper mission will be the largest spacecraft ever to go into deep space. The 6 ton spacecraft will eventually arrive at Jupiter in 2030 and will make multiple flypasts of Europa, Jupiter's second moon, which is believed to have a substantial sub-surface ocean, warmed by tidal heating from the giant planet.
This mission will spend years using its instruments to give us a better understanding of Jupiter's icy moons, which may sustain a complex chemical system in their oceans, and perhaps complex enough to support abiogenesis - that is, the formation of life. While the probe is unlikely to be able to provide definitive proof of this, it will absolutely give the world the best look yet at a world which may have all the right ingredients for this.
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Scott Manley has uploaded a video concerning the Falcon Heavy expended launching the Europa Clipper space=probe:


NASA's Europa Clipper mission will be the largest spacecraft ever to go into deep space. The 6 ton spacecraft will eventually arrive at Jupiter in 2030 and will make multiple flypasts of Europa, Jupiter's second moon, which is believed to have a substantial sub-surface ocean, warmed by tidal heating from the giant planet.
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This mission will spend years using its instruments to give us a better understanding of Jupiter's icy moons, which may sustain a complex chemical system in their oceans, and perhaps complex enough to support abiogenesis - that is, the formation of life. While the probe is unlikely to be able to provide definitive proof of this, it will absolutely give the world the best look yet at a world which may have all the right ingredients for this.
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View: https://twitter.com/stephenclark1/status/1848735518403485927


Status report from Tim Larson, Europa Clipper deputy project manager, a little more than a week after launch:

“All the subsystems are performing well. They’re green. They’re healthy. They’re functioning as expected. The spacecraft is power positive."
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"The batteries are remaining at 100% state of charge. The bus right now is using between 300 and 350 watts of power off of the solar arrays. The guidance and control system is using the thrusters to maintain inertial control."
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View: https://twitter.com/stephenclark1/status/1848737074842611923


Upcoming milestones for Europa Clipper include the first trajectory correction maneuver to target the spacecraft for a Mars flyby next March.

That will be followed ~Nov. 4-5 by deployment of the magnetometer boom, then deployment of the REASON radar antennas.
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View: https://twitter.com/europaclipper/status/1856107953214144924


Science is booming! We've successfully deployed the magnetometer boom. Once we arrive at Europa, the Europa Clipper Magnetometer (ECM) aims to confirm that Europa’s ocean exists, measure its depth and salinity, and measure the ice shell's thickness. More:
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ECM | Instruments – NASA's Europa Clipper

Earth’s first mission to conduct detailed reconnaissance of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. NASA’s Europa Clipper will determine if this ocean world has environments suitable for life to exist.
europa.nasa.gov
 


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