After the absolute success of the in-flight recovery of the Super Heavy rocket, SpaceX just did the same with NASA’s Europa Clipper mission. When the clock struck 6:02 p.m. in mainland Spain, a Falcon 9 launcher from Elon Musk’s space company fired up its engines to send the probe toward the natural satellite Europa, which orbits the planet Jupiter, where it will arrive in 2030.
The main purpose of the Europa Clipper is “Determine if there are places beneath the icy surface of Europa that could support life”they point out from NASA. To carry out their investigations, scientists will study the nature of this ice cap and the ocean below, as well as the composition and geology of this moon. These investigations “will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential of habitable worlds beyond our planet”:
The flight plan published by NASA itself includes dozens of close passes of the Europa satellite, in which it will collect measurements to provide data to the team of scientists on Earth.
“The spacecraft, in orbit around Jupiter, will perform nearly 50 flybys at maximum approach altitudes“, underlines the agency. “The Europa Clipper will descend up to 26 kilometers above the surface, “at a different location each time it passes to examine almost the entire satellite.”
The basic equipment of the probe consists of solar panels 30.5 meters long once deployed and radar antennas. In fact, the Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft ever developed by NASA for a planetary mission. It measures 5 meters high and has a dry mass – without fuel on board – of 3,200 kilograms.
One of the most important elements is that it is specially designed to survive the harsh environment that Jupiter finds itself in. “Because the moon Europa is bathed in radiation trapped in its planet’s magnetic field, the Europa Clipper payload and other electronic components will be enclosed in a thick-walled vault” to prove this electromagnetic pollution.
This is a technology that NASA has already developed for the Juno spacecraft, launched by the American agency in 2011. The walls of this vault, made of titanium and aluminum, “will act as a anti-radiation shield that provides protection against most atomic particles energy, considerably slowing down the degradation of electronic components.
extraterrestrial life
After carrying out several analyzes confirming the existence of an ocean under a layer of ice on the Europa satellite, NASA intends with this probe to clarify certain questions about the existence of life. “Beyond the Earth, Europe is considered one of the most promising places where we could find currently habitable environments in our solar system”, they point out from the United States Space Administration.
Omicrono
The spacecraft’s payload is directly focused on integrating systems capable of meeting the needs of scientists. Including on board “cameras and spectrometers to produce high-resolution images and composition maps of the surface and thin atmosphere” of Jupiter’s moon.
It also carries ice-penetrating radar to search for groundwater. and a magnetometer and gravity measurement sensors to “untangle the clues about its ocean and its interior depths”. Likewise, “the spacecraft also integrates a thermal instrument to identify different locations of warmer ice and perhaps recent water eruptions, as well as instruments to measure the composition of tiny particles in the thin atmosphere and its space environment “.
