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THE Europa Clipper The US SpaceX spacecraft reached a key milestone on Monday and is set to launch next month to explore and search for signs of habitability on one of Jupiter’s moons, NASA said. The launch window for its trip opens on October 10.
The mission has passed Key Decision Point E, a crucial planning step that authorizes the mission to launch. The approval came as a relief to the Europa Clipper team after a possible problem with the spacecraft’s transistors was discovered in May.
Transistors help control the flow of electricity through the vehicle, and engineers were concerned about the components’ survival in Jupiter’s harsh radiation environment.
Extensive testing of the transistors took place over four months at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The team was able to complete the necessary tests in time, avoiding a 13-month delay in the launch of the probe, which was to explore Europa, an ice-covered planet that could support life in its salty underground ocean. Europa Clipper carries 10 scientific instruments that could determine whether life is possible elsewhere in our solar system besides Earth.
The launch of Europa Clipper has now been authorized, with no changes to the mission plan, objectives or trajectory.
“This is the last kind of big assessment before we get into launch fever, and we’re really pleased to say that they passed that review without a doubt today,” Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said at a news conference Monday.
Solving the radiation problem
In May, the transistor manufacturer alerted the mission team that the parts might not be as radiation resistant as previously believedTransistors are located throughout the spacecraft.
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and has a magnetic field 20,000 times stronger than Earth’s. This magnetic field traps charged particles and accelerates them to high speeds. The fast-moving particles release energy in the form of intense radiation that bombards Europa and Jupiter’s other moons.
Any spacecraft heading to Jupiter needs radiation-resistant electronics.
“Jupiter is engulfed in more radiation than any other planet in our solar system, and that’s one of the reasons why exploring the Jupiter system is so difficult,” said Jordan Evans, Europa Clipper project manager at JPL.
“Europa is near the outer edge of the most dangerous part of this radiation belt,” he added. “Flying near Europa exposes us to this high flux of harmful particles, and so the mission…
