NASA, SpaceX launch historic Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter

NASA and SpaceX have launched NASA’s Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Falcon Heavy launched throughout an instantaneous launch window on Monday, Oct. 14, at 12:05 PM EDT (16:05 UTC) from Launch Complicated 39A (LC-39A) on the Kennedy House Heart in Cape Canaveral, Florida. If Monday’s try was scrubbed, a backup launch alternative was obtainable for Tuesday, Oct. 15, in addition to all through the remainder of October, however these makes an attempt weren’t wanted.

Europa Clipper is probably crucial planetary science mission launching this decade. Certainly one of NASA’s giant strategic science missions (also referred to as a flagship mission), Europa Clipper would be the largest planetary science mission ever developed by NASA and the primary mission to carry out an in-depth investigation of Europa and its potential habitability.

Europa Clipper’s historical past

Planetary scientists and house businesses alike have lengthy desired and deliberate a mission to Europa. Scientists first discovered indications of water ice on Europa within the Nineteen Fifties, and subsequent missions to Jupiter, reminiscent of Galileo, Cassini-Huygens, and Juno, have revealed extra concerning the planet’s watery nature. This culminated within the discovery of a subsurface ocean beneath the moon’s icy floor.

Nevertheless, whereas scientists have substantial proof for the existence of a subsurface ocean, most notably via the presence of floor water vapor plumes, the existence of the ocean has not been explicitly confirmed. Given Europa’s location within the photo voltaic system and the chance of a subsurface ocean containing parts that enable for the existence of life, the necessity for a mission to Europa elevated considerably all through the 2000s and 2010s.

A Europa orbiter mission was first proposed to NASA in 1997 for the company’s Discovery program. Although this mission was in the end not chosen, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) later introduced that the company would conduct an orbiter mission to Europa sooner or later.

Across the time of this primary mission proposal, NASA’s Galileo mission was in orbit round Jupiter and commonly made flybys of the moon throughout its predominant mission and its prolonged mission, which was often known as the Galileo Europa Mission (GEM). Galileo’s in depth investigations of Europa and Jupiter’s different icy moons allowed scientists to make many discoveries relating to icy moons and Europa, particularly relating to the moon’s potential for harboring microbial extraterrestrial life. Following Galileo’s mission, NASA and JPL started conducting preliminary research into missions to Europa.

A number of proposed missions emerged from these preliminary research. The primary was the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) mission, which was deliberate for launch in 2015 and anticipated to discover Europa and Jupiter’s different icy moons, Callisto and Ganymede. JIMO was in the end canceled in 2005 as NASA shifted its priorities to crewed house missions, and it misplaced funding. Following JIMO, NASA joined the European House Company (ESA) in formulating the Europa Jupiter System Mission – Laplace (EJSM-Laplace) mission, which was additionally in the end canceled in 2011 attributable to budgeting points on NASA’s facet. ESA would proceed the event of the EJSM-Laplace mission with out NASA, ultimately culminating within the company’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission, which launched in April 2023.

Although EJSM-Laplace’ was canceled and ESA moved ahead with its growth of a Europa mission, NASA nonetheless had plans for a Europa orbiter and would use its infrastructure from EJSM-Laplace to create the Jupiter Europa Orbiter (JEO). JEO was initially scheduled for launch in 2020 and would have explored each Europa and Io. Through the growth of JEO, nonetheless, NASA’s price range once more compelled adjustments, and the mission was re-formulated into the Europa A number of Flyby Mission, which was later renamed to Europa Clipper.

Juno picture of Europa in September 2022. (Credit score: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill)

The need for Europa Clipper was additional bolstered when the Nationwide Analysis Council advisable a mission to Europa in 2013. It was determined that the mission could be a joint mission between Johns Hopkins College’s Utilized Physics Laboratory (APL) and JPL.

In March 2013, the mission was granted $75 million to help with the formation of mission groups, actions, mission objectives, and instrument growth (which was advisable by the 2011 Planetary Science Decadal Survey). The mission’s funding was considerably elevated in Might 2014, when a Home invoice elevated the mission’s funding price range for the 2014 fiscal 12 months from $15 million to $100 million, which was additionally for use for mission formulation wants. What’s extra, an additional $30 million was granted to the mission to be used in preliminary research, and extra bipartisan help for the mission was promised following the 2014 United States election.

NASA chosen the 9 devices that will fly with Europa Clipper in Might 2015. The devices had been budgeted at roughly $110 million over the next three years. NASA formally accepted the idea for Europa Clipper in June 2015, formally shifting the mission to the formulation stage. In February 2017, Europa Clipper moved from Part A to Part B, also referred to as the preliminary design section. The Home House Subcommittee held hearings in July 2017 relating to scheduling Europa Clipper as one in every of NASA’s giant strategic science missions, which was accepted. Part B would proceed till August 2019, when the mission moved to Part C — ultimate design and fabrication.

From 2019 to 2022, the mission’s design was finalized and the primary elements of the spacecraft started to be constructed. In March 2022, Europa Clipper moved to Part D, meeting, testing, and launch, and the spacecraft’s predominant physique was accomplished on June 7, 2022. On Jan. 30, 2024, all 9 of Europa Clipper’s science devices had been built-in into the spacecraft, with some antennas and photo voltaic arrays being added to the spacecraft just a few months later.

Europa Clipper being encapsulated inside Falcon Heavy’s payload fairings on Oct. 2. (Credit score: NASA/Ben Smegelsky)

By March 2024, the spacecraft efficiently accomplished all of its predominant testing goals and was ready for its cargo to the Kennedy House Heart. In Might 2024, the spacecraft arrived in Florida, and the mission’s ultimate pre-launch evaluation was accomplished in September 2024.

Europa Clipper was initially scheduled to launch on the opening of its launch window on Oct. 10, 2024. Nevertheless, attributable to Hurricane Milton’s strategy and supreme landfall on Florida’s west coast, the launch of the mission was delayed indefinitely till the storm safely handed via the Kennedy House Heart and the middle was declared secure from any substantial harm. The middle was reopened over the weekend of Oct. 11, and a brand new launch date — Oct. 14 — was introduced. Through the storm, the spacecraft was safely saved in a safe location.

The Europa Clipper spacecraft and mission

The Europa Clipper mission, now valued at $2 billion, is designed to research Europa’s inside and ocean, geology, chemistry, and potential habitability. As talked about, the spacecraft carries a collection of 9 science devices that may allow the mission’s investigations. Europa Clipper’s devices could be divided into 4 predominant teams: imagers, plasma and magnetic subject devices, radar and gravity devices, and chemical evaluation devices.

Diagram of the Europa Clipper spacecraft and its devices. (Credit score: Caltech)

Europa Clipper’s two predominant imagers are the Europa Imaging System (EIS) and Europa Thermal Emission Imaging System (E-THEMIS). The EIS includes a wide-angle digital camera and a narrow-angle digital camera, each of which have eight-megapixel sensors that may produce high-resolution coloration and stereoscopic imagery of Europa’s geologic exercise, floor elevations, and extra. E-THEMIS  will use infrared mild to find out the place heat liquid water could also be positioned on Europa’s floor, which might point out locations the place water plumes as soon as erupted. E-THEMIS may also decide the small-scale properties of Europa’s floor by performing in-depth observations of Europa’s floor texture.

Two devices will probably be onboard Europa Clipper to carry out spectrometry at Europa. The Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Europa-UVS) instrument includes a telescope that collects UV mild and creates photos that the spacecraft’s spectrograph makes use of to find out the composition of Europa’s atmospheric gases and floor supplies and seek for plume exercise round Europa. The Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE) instrument is an infrared spectrometer that’s anticipated to map the distribution of ice, salt, organics, hotspots, and extra round Europa’s floor, which can enable scientists to find out Europa’s geologic historical past and habitability.

The Europa Clipper Magnetometer (ECM) and Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding (PIMS) devices will carry out plasma and magnetic subject measurements for the mission. The ECM is a magnetometer that may examine the existence, depth, and salinity of Europa’s subsurface ocean and measure the thickness and traits of the moon’s icy floor shell. The ECM may also research the moon’s skinny ionized ambiance and the way it interacts with Jupiter’s ionized ambiance. PIMS and its Faraday cups will distinguish the distortions of magnetic fields close to Europa which can be brought on by the moon’s ionosphere and plasma trapped inside Jupiter’s magnetosphere. Curiously, these distortions might carry info relating to Europa’s ocean.

By radar and gravity measurements, particulars relating to Europa’s inside and different properties could be revealed. Europa Clipper will carry out quite a lot of gravity and radar measurements utilizing its suite of antennas and the Doppler impact. Moreover, the Radar for Europa Evaluation and Sounding: Ocean to Close to-surface (REASON) instrument, an ice-penetrating radar, will examine the construction and thickness of Europa’s icy shell, in addition to the moon’s floor elevations, composition, roughness, and ambiance.

The remaining suite of devices will carry out chemical evaluation experiments at Europa. The Mass Spectrometer for Planetary Exploration/Europa (MASPEX) instrument is a mass spectrometer that may analyze Europa’s ambiance for various gases and potential plumes, the chemistry of the subsurface ocean, how ocean and floor trade supplies, and the way radiation can alter completely different compounds on the moon’s icy floor. The Floor Mud Analyzer (SUDA) will establish and analyze floor materials ejected from Europa’s floor by way of meteorite impacts. This “mud” might supply clues to scientists concerning the salinity of the moon’s subsurface ocean.

These 9 devices will enable Europa Clipper to realize its daring mission objectives, which, in line with NASA, are to “decide the thickness of Europa’s icy shell and the way the ocean interacts with the floor,” “examine Europa’s composition, and “characterize the geology of Europa.” These 9 devices, in addition to different very important digital elements, will probably be shielded from the extraordinary radiation surrounding Jupiter by a 150 kg titanium and aluminum protect. In complete, all 9 devices mass round 82 kg.

In October 2014, it was introduced that Europa Clipper would use photo voltaic panels as its predominant supply of energy when at Europa. This choice got here after lengthy discussions relating to the spacecraft’s energy supply. Along with photovoltaic energy sources (photo voltaic panels), radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) energy sources had been additionally thought of. NASA’s Juno mission proved that photo voltaic panels are a viable supply of energy for missions to Jupiter, and when coupled with the truth that photo voltaic panels are considerably cheaper and fewer advanced than RTGs,  photo voltaic panels had been in the end the popular alternative for Europa Clipper’s energy. Moreover, although photo voltaic panels weigh greater than an RTG, Europa Clipper’s projected mass was nonetheless throughout the set limits.

Europa Clipper could have two units of photo voltaic panels. Every array will span 14.2 m in size and 4.1 m in top. When totally deployed following launch, Europa Clipper’s complete size will enhance to greater than 30.5 m or roughly the dimensions of a basketball court docket.

The spacecraft’s propulsion system will measure three meters in top and 1.5 m in diameter, comprising round two-thirds of the spacecraft’s predominant physique. Constructed by NASA’s Goddard House Flight Heart in Maryland and owned by Johns Hopkins’ APL, the propulsion system will carry round 2,700 kg of propellant, which will probably be monomethyl hydrazine and dinitrogen tetroxide, of which 50 to 60 p.c will probably be used for the spacecraft’s insertion burn round Jupiter, which can final round six to eight hours. In complete, the propulsion system options 24 engines, rated at 27.5 N of thrust.

Given Europa’s location inside Jupiter’s harsh radiation belts, the setting surrounding Europa is extremely harsh, that means that even a well-shielded spacecraft despatched to orbit the moon would realistically solely survive for only a few months. Due to this, Europa Clipper’s mission planners opted for extra mission time and can, as a substitute, have the spacecraft carry out practically 50 shut flybys of the Moon, throughout which the spacecraft will gather knowledge. Following the flybys, the spacecraft could have round seven to 10 days to transmit knowledge to Earth. Whereas this strategy appears to restrict the overall quantity of information that may be collected and transmitted by the spacecraft, this strategy will really enable the mission to supply nearly thrice as a lot knowledge as an orbiter whereas additionally lowering the spacecraft’s publicity to radiation and preserving its total well being.

Throughout its 3.5-year-long mission, the spacecraft will use its flybys of Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede to change its orbit round Jupiter, which, in flip, alters the spacecraft’s flyby trajectories round Europa. Because of this not one of the spacecraft’s flybys would be the identical, and can in the end enable Europa Clipper to map out practically the whole thing of Europa’s floor. What’s extra, every flyby will range vastly in altitude, with some flybys coming inside 50 km of Europa’s floor whereas others will probably be so far as 2,500 km from the floor.

Europa Clipper’s trajectory to Jupiter following launch. (Credit score: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Nevertheless, earlier than Europa Clipper arrives at Jupiter and begins performing groundbreaking science, the spacecraft should journey via the photo voltaic system for a number of years. In complete, Europa Clipper’s journey to Jupiter will take 5.5 years and span 2.9 billion km, throughout which the spacecraft will carry out two gravity-assist flybys of Mars and Earth in February 2025 and December 2026, respectively. Every gravity help will enable Europa Clipper to change its trajectory across the Solar, with the ultimate Earth flyby and subsequent small course correction maneuvers bringing the spacecraft’s trajectory according to Jupiter. Europa Clipper is scheduled to reach on the planet in April 2030, after which it would carry out an insertion burn to insert itself inside Jupiter’s sphere of affect.

Europa Clipper’s launch

Europa Clipper was launched atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from LC-39A in Florida. Nevertheless, Europa Clipper was not initially anticipated to fly atop Falcon Heavy and as a substitute was deliberate to launch on NASA’s House Launch System (SLS) super-heavy carry rocket after the U.S. Congress mandated the spacecraft use the rocket for launch.

In 2021, NASA requested that different launch autos be allowed to launch the spacecraft after the company predicted that it could be unable to offer an SLS launch automobile in time for the spacecraft’s projected 2024 launch window. Thus, Congress’ 2021 omnibus spending invoice directed a full and open investigation to pick a industrial launch automobile for Europa Clipper ought to SLS not be prepared for the spacecraft’s launch in 2024. In January 2021, Europa Clipper’s mission crew was directed by NASA’s Planetary Missions Program Workplace to “instantly stop efforts to keep up SLS compatibility.”

Artist’s impression of SLS launching Europa Clipper. (Credit score: Nathan Koga for NSF)

In July 2021, NASA introduced that SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy had been chosen to launch Europa Clipper, citing launch prices, SLS availability, and shaking/vibrations throughout launch as their predominant motives for choosing Falcon Heavy. Although shifting from SLS to Falcon Heavy meant including greater than 2.5 years to the mission’s total timeline and coast section, the transfer additionally allowed groups to avoid wasting round $2 billion in launch prices alone. What’s extra, the price of redesigning Europa Clipper for the immense vibratory setting created by SLS’s strong rocket boosters would have value round $1 billion.

Thus, Falcon Heavy was chosen because the launch automobile for Europa Clipper, and following the spacecraft’s arrival in Florida and ultimate testing, Europa Clipper was built-in to its Falcon Heavy rocket in early October. On Oct. 13, NASA and SpaceX accomplished their Launch Readiness Evaluate (LRR) and polled “go” for launch.

The launch of Europa Clipper was Falcon Heavy’s eleventh mission of all time and second of 2024. For SpaceX, the launch was the corporate’s 396th complete launch and 96th of 2024, and the 185th orbital launch try worldwide in 2024.

Farewell Europa Clipper, secure journeys to Jupiter’s moon!

The Falcon Heavy placing on a spectacular present this afternoon because the NASA flagship missions begins a six 12 months journey to the Jovian system!

Be taught all concerning the mission from @NASASpaceflight : pic.twitter.com/1S14GornAS

— Sawyer R. (@thenasaman) October 14, 2024

Falcon Heavy stands 70 m in top and lots more and plenty round 1.4 million kg at liftoff. In a tri-core design, the underside two-thirds of the rocket is comprised of three reusable Falcon boosters, with two facet boosters and a central core. For Europa Clipper, the 2 facet boosters had been B1064-5 and B1065-5 — each of which had been flying on their sixth flights and had beforehand launched NASA’s Psyche mission in 2023 — with B1089-1 serving as the middle core and flying on its first mission. As a result of nature of Europa Clipper’s mission and its vacation spot, all three Falcon boosters had been expended and didn’t land on land at one in every of SpaceX’s touchdown zones or autonomous drone ships at sea. Every Falcon booster utilized 9 Merlin 1D engines (27 complete), which, collectively, produced roughly 22,000 kilonewtons of thrust. Falcon Heavy’s higher stage used a single Merlin 1D Vacuum engine, which produced roughly 934 kilonewtons of thrust.

Instantly following deployment, Europa Clipper groups checked the well being of the spacecraft post-launch and established preliminary communications with the spacecraft. Moreover, Europa Clipper’s huge photo voltaic arrays had been prolonged quickly after deployment to make sure the spacecraft had sufficient energy to carry out its preliminary duties.

We hear you, @EuropaClipper!

The Deep House Community in Canberra, Australia, has acquired sign. That is the primary indicator that we’re speaking with the spacecraft. Subsequent up: Full telemetry! pic.twitter.com/ROXkSCXMIS

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) October 14, 2024

Europa Clipper is among the many most anticipated missions of the twenty first century and might verify the habitability of one other world inside our photo voltaic system. Although it has been visited on a number of events and investigated tons of — perhaps even hundreds — of instances, a lot continues to be unknown about Europa and icy moons. Europa Clipper, together with JUICE, Juno, and different follow-up missions to the icy world, will present scientists with an in depth have a look at a brand new form of world, a world that might someday function a hub for human know-how and growth as people proceed to develop into our photo voltaic system and universe.

(Lead picture: Falcon Heavy launching Europa Clipper to Jupiter. Credit score: Julia Bergeron for NSF)