The Europa Clipper launch has three S2 burns (ascent, parking orbit insertion, and Earth departure burn), so ostensibly the same problem could surface in the later burns the Clipper launch performs.
I can only hope that the NASA LSP people were tracking the booster all the way through manufacture and testing. Having this anomaly on a CREWED launch certainly does not help ease my (already high) paranoia for Clipper.
Quote from: ugordan on 09/30/2024 10:07 amI can only hope that the NASA LSP people were tracking the booster all the way through manufacture and testing. Having this anomaly on a CREWED launch certainly does not help ease my (already high) paranoia for Clipper.So that's a really interesting question--NASA pays more than commercial customers, but what do they get with that higher price? I think that one thing they get is a greater commitment to a specific launch date. But do they get more insight into the vehicle construction and testing?
It's almost time to launch to Europa 🚀 What's so intriguing about this moon of Jupiter? Tune into the science telecon to hear members of the @EuropaClipper science team explain what we know – and what we hope to learn – about this ocean world.
From the Europa Clipper Blog:Solar Arrays on NASA’s Europa Clipper Fully Deployed in Space[snip]
Anyone have any news on the mission since the webcast ended?I saw they had issues with the prop system purging (both sides failed to purge), but it did the sunward roll anyways.
Canberra terminals 34 and 36 receiving signals
seeing strong fading on #EuropaClipper with ~60 minutes cycle between maxima and minima, in sync with DSN signal strength. Assuming @EuropaClipper is rotating for thermal testing, temperature management, calibration or other good reasons.