The central cylinder portion of the Europa Clipper probe has arrived at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This means that the assembly period that started in March is entering a final phase. After that, the probe will be tested to ascend in October 2024.
NASA writes that the next two years will be spent completing manual assembly and testing to ensure the spacecraft can make the journey to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. The final stage of the assembly has now begun with the arrival of the 3m long and 1.5m wide central cylinder body of the probe. This includes all electronics, radios, cables and the drive system integrated. The solar panels will also be attached to this section, although they will not be unfolded during launch. By the end of this year, most of the flight hardware should be completed and the rest of the scientific instruments complete.
JPL engineers inspect Europa Clipper’s central body, after it is supplied by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
Europa Clipper is due to launch in October 2024 with a Falcon Heavy from SpaceX and arrive at the moon in April 2030. Using an elliptical orbit around Jupiter, the probe will circle Europa nearly 50 times to investigate the moon’s ocean. That ocean has twice the volume of all Earth’s oceans added together. Using nine different scientific instruments, the probe will measure this internal ocean below the ice surface, as well as map the surface composition and see if water plumes are emerging from the ice crust. The thickness of the ice crust and the moon’s gravitational field will also be measured. The interest in the ocean comes because it has the capacity to support life. The mission is not easy, partly due to the intense radiation from Jupiter.