Europa Clipper is a spacecraft developed by NASA and will conduct a series of observations on one of Jupiter's moons - Europa. The presentation primarily focused on and covered information regarding the electrical and communication systems of the spacecraft. The mission is planned for the launch date is October of 2024, and its approximated arrival date is April of 2030. The expected mission duration will be four years, and during these four years, the spacecraft will perform 40 to 50 close Europa flybys. During these flybys, the spacecraft will gather different scientific data - high-resolution images of the surface, the composition of the Europa's atmosphere, locations of subsurface water, magnetic field measurements, and others. The mission's primary goal is to gather the information to determine if the conditions present on this moon are suitable for life. Additional goals include gathering information on the surface's geology, acting as a relay for Europa Lander mission communications, and others. In order to achieve the scientific goals, the spacecraft will have the following payloads:
- Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding (PIMS)
Interior Characterization of Europa using
Magnetometry (ICEMAG)Interior Characterization of Europa using
Magnetometry (ICEMAG)- Europa Imaging System (EIS)
Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding:
Ocean to Near-surface (REASON)Europa Thermal Emission Imaging System (E-
THEMIS)Mass Spectrometer for Planetary
Exploration/Europa (MASPEX)- Ultraviolet Spectrograph/Europa (UVS)
- Surface Dust Mass Analyser (SUDA)
Europa Clipper will communicate over two frequency bands - Ka and X band. It will achieve this communication with four antennas and two frontier radios that will interface the receive and transmit communications. X-Band will be used for both uplink and downlink, but the Ka-Band will be used only for the downlink. Multiple-frequency shift keying will also be implemented in the X-Band frequency range for emergency situations.
The general logic for the electrical power system for the Europa Clipper remains relatively consistent with other satellite missions, where there are primary and secondary energy sources, power regulation, and power distribution blocks. However, it is a complex system with many redundancies. It follows the single-fault tolerance logic, allowing the system to survive single-point failures that will reside in small containment regions. The primary energy source is solar arrays with an area of 87 square meters, and the secondary energy source is Lithium-ion battery cells.
Papers:
- https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper
- https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/02/11/nasa-decides-to-launch-europa-clipper-on-commercial-rocket-in-2024/
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8058576
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317119725_Power_Subsystem_Approach_for_the_Europa_Mission
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8396629
- https://europa.nasa.gov/mission/science-instruments/
- https://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsndocs/810-005/208/208B.pdf
- https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/f/frontier-radio
Link to presentation:
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