NASA - Europa Clipper updates and discussion

[Blackstar]

Is reducing the number of orbits just magic tricks for the budget? Doesn't that just make the primary mission shorter, and then the first extended mission starts right afterwards? So over the span of time nothing actually is different?

It's not all tricks. For instance, when they go from primary to extended mission the mission has to apply for a budget to do that. NASA can give them a smaller budget at that time. So it can control costs.

Put it this way (I'm making up these numbers):

-6 years primary mission at $100 million each year, followed by 3 years extended mission at $80 million a year = $824 million

-5 years primary mission at $100 million each year, followed by 3 years extended mission at $80 million a year = $724 million

So it can be used to lower an overall mission cost. I'm not saying that's what they are doing or what will happen. They may simply be playing accounting tricks. But extended missions only happen after a senior review, and then NASA decides how much they will fund the extended mission at.

If we are lucky, Europa Clipper will have a very long and very productive lifetime and generate lots of data, and nobody will care about the per-year cost during long extended missions.

[redliox]

If we are lucky, Europa Clipper will have a very long and very productive lifetime and generate lots of data, and nobody will care about the per-year cost during long extended missions.

That is my hope too. Galileo had 2 extensions despite it's collection of problems and Juno has proved 21st century electronics (with appropriate shielding) and solar power can handle the radiation; that gives confidence in Clipper's fate.  Europa obviously deserves a long hard look, otherwise I'd like to see Callisto and Io get some attention during any potential extensions since Europa and Ganymede will be the superstars for JUICE and Clipper.

[vjkane]

Another way to look at fewer Europa encounters during the prime mission is that the extended mission which can be targeted to follow up on discoveries during the prime mission starts earlier.

And the disposal hopefully will be many years after the end of the prime mission.

[redliox]

Another way to look at fewer Europa encounters during the prime mission is that the extended mission which can be targeted to follow up on discoveries during the prime mission starts earlier.

And the disposal hopefully will be many years after the end of the prime mission.

Although it's obvious they're staying laser-focused on Europa now, but how much thought can the team spare to options for extensions? I presume one advantage the Galileans give is their synchrony means they'll know the optimal times to view say Io, even from afar, since it and it's outer kin have that 1:2:4 setup. At what point during the prime mission can the team decide "oh an Io campaign later!" or "Callisto has a spectacular angle"; it must be interesting to be the fly on wall in those meetings.

[Blackstar]

Although it's obvious they're staying laser-focused on Europa now, but how much thought can the team spare to options for extensions? I presume one advantage the Galileans give is their synchrony means they'll know the optimal times to view say Io, even from afar, since it and it's outer kin have that 1:2:4 setup. At what point during the prime mission can the team decide "oh an Io campaign later!" or "Callisto has a spectacular angle"; it must be interesting to be the fly on wall in those meetings.

That's a good question and one I've wondered about--when and how does a space mission start planning for an extended mission?

I am sure they don't start formal planning until the prime mission has gone on for some period of time, maybe halfway through the prime mission. But it strikes me that many people on the team probably have ideas in their heads about what they could do if they were given more time. They start out with a list of a dozen things they want to do during the mission, and they are told that they can only do half of them during the prime mission, so they still know the other stuff they want to do and keep it on the back burner. And of course for a mission like EC this is all tied to trajectories (that's not true for telescopes or some other planetary missions). I'm guessing that the trajectory people have run out lots of plots and they show the things they can do with the trajectory after the prime mission.

So I'm guessing that although the formal planning for the extended mission does not start until they are halfway or more through the prime mission, lots of people have other ideas even from the start, and of course even more ideas are generated during the mission based upon stuff they discover along the way. If Io does something weird, people are going to start looking at options for investigating Io.

But yeah, it's a really good question.

[redliox]

After all, heck, they've gone far enough to declare where they're likely to end the mission and it won't be the same as Galileo or Juno!  I like to think more on their minds on top of that!

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/nasajpl/status/1559241337227997184

Europa Clipper, assemble!
This video of @NASA’s @EuropaClipper spacecraft shows it moving into JPL's main clean room, where the team will complete its assembly in preparation for launch in October 2024. Europa Clipper will explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa go.nasa.gov/3dxuOrb

[Rondaz]

Europa Clipper Spacecraft Kicks Assembly Into High Gear..

https://twitter.com/astrobiology/status/1559249937551990785

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/europaclipper/status/1567182848624570368

🔴 Live now: we're building a spacecraft that will explore Jupiter's intriguing ocean moon, Europa – and you can watch anytime. At 11am PT (2pm ET), we'll be taking your chat questions as well. Join us at

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/europaclipper/status/1577336441968816128

What does a spacecraft bound for Jupiter look like as it's being built? Check out our live video feed, and join us today at 10am PT for a 30-minute open chat:

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/europaclipper/status/1577425254460186624

#Twinning: Meet Europa Clipper's test model. To make sure the spacecraft can withstand the physical stresses of launch and hundreds of millions of miles of space travel, our team is testing a full-size copy of Europa Clipper's central structure @NASAJPL.  go.nasa.gov/3e6wV68

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/europaclipper/status/1592573437729738752

For all its complexity, our Jupiter-bound spacecraft is still being built by hand. Join us today at 10am PT/1pm ET for a 30-minute, real-time chat from the clean room @NASAJPL where the Europa Clipper spacecraft is under construction: https://bit.ly/clippercam

[jbenton]

Update: reaction wheels installed last week

https://europa.nasa.gov/news/60/nasas-europa-clipper-gets-its-wheels-for-traveling-in-deep-space/

[redliox]

Update: reaction wheels installed last week

https://europa.nasa.gov/news/60/nasas-europa-clipper-gets-its-wheels-for-traveling-in-deep-space/

I was about to comment on this too.  I'm excited another critical item is aboard!  The next thing I'd love to hear about would be REASON or the HGA getting attached.

[deadman1204]

Is clipper user the older style of reaction wheel (The article mentions wearing out). Isn't there a newer style of reaction wheel that is thought to have less wear issues?

[butters]

Is clipper user the older style of reaction wheel (The article mentions wearing out). Isn't there a newer style of reaction wheel that is thought to have less wear issues?

The problematic Ithaco reaction wheels that repeatedly suffered increases in bearing friction on several disparate spacecraft, correlated with solar alpha events, were redesigned some years ago to use ceramic ball bearings that wouldn't be subject to the theorized root cause, and the problem has not recurred with these units. Ithaco is now part of Raytheon.

But that saga does show that the aerospace supply chain can be a small world, and one flawed component design can find its way into all sorts of missions. By the time Kepler launched, NASA was well aware of the anomalies, and they sent the reaction wheels for additional pre-launch testing (no issues found), but obviously they didn't select an alternative supplier and launched with the flawed reaction wheels that failed.

[redliox]

Space.com posted an article stating instrument delays might affect launch.  There was particular emphasis that MISE, the big near-infrared spectrometer, was having trouble.  The mission website states that UVS and E-Thermis are installed with EIS, PIMS, and SUDA in the lab at least.  With the memory of how Insight's seismometer delayed its launch before, is there legit concern, with less than 2 years for 'Clipper's turn, that the same might happen again?

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/rpappalardo/status/1598471290297647106

The @EuropaClipper spacecraft’s main body went on quite a ride today: first across the clean room, then onto its shiny new “turnover fixture,” and now suspended sideways! It’ll stay there the next couple of weeks (unfortunately, out of the livestream view). #GoClipper #PI_Daily

[su27k]

Space.com posted an article stating instrument delays might affect launch.

The article: Europa Clipper instrument delays worry scientists eyeing 2024 launch

Europa Clipper will carry 10 key instruments, including cameras, magnetic field sensors and devices to identify materials on the moon's surface. But with less than two years to go before launch, only three of those instruments have been installed on the main spacecraft body, and five haven't yet arrived at JPL.

And time is getting tight.

"The ATLO people have expended all of their magic," Niebur said. "Any further delay is going to eat directly into the schedule margin we have."

[deadman1204]

Is clipper user the older style of reaction wheel (The article mentions wearing out). Isn't there a newer style of reaction wheel that is thought to have less wear issues?

The problematic Ithaco reaction wheels that repeatedly suffered increases in bearing friction on several disparate spacecraft, correlated with solar alpha events, were redesigned some years ago to use ceramic ball bearings that wouldn't be subject to the theorized root cause, and the problem has not recurred with these units. Ithaco is now part of Raytheon.

But that saga does show that the aerospace supply chain can be a small world, and one flawed component design can find its way into all sorts of missions. By the time Kepler launched, NASA was well aware of the anomalies, and they sent the reaction wheels for additional pre-launch testing (no issues found), but obviously they didn't select an alternative supplier and launched with the flawed reaction wheels that failed.

I wasn't thinking about the problem batch that affected kepler, dawn, and such. I thought I'd heard that was a newer type of wheel developed a few years ago with less failure points.