NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission Advances with Solar Array Deployment

Three people in jumpsuits stand in front of a stretched out five-panel solar array inside of a building.
Technicians examine the first of two fully extended five-panel solar arrays built for NASA’s Europa Clipper suspended on a support system called a gravity offload fixture during inspection and cleaning as part of assembly, test, and launch operations inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

Processing of the large solar arrays built for NASA’s Europa Clipper is now underway inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

Planned to arrive at Jupiter in April 2030, the spacecraft will study Jupiter’s moon Europa, which shows strong evidence beneath its icy crust of a global ocean over twice the volume of all Earth’s oceans. Europa is currently considered one of the most promising habitable environments in our solar system.

The first of two five-panel solar arrays built for NASA’s Europa Clipper stands inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for inspection and cleaning as part of assembly, test, and launch operations on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

Once processing of the first five-panel solar array is complete, technicians will remove it from the gravity offload fixture, which helps support the weight of the array. The same steps will then be repeated with the second solar array. Built by Airbus in Leiden, Netherlands, the arrays arrived at Kennedy late last month by truck, after travelling to the U.S. by air. 

When both solar arrays are installed and deployed on Europa Clipper – the agency’s largest spacecraft ever developed for a planetary mission – the spacecraft will span a total length of more than 100 feet and weigh 7,145 pounds without the inclusion of propellants. The spacecraft needs the large solar arrays to collect enough light to power it as it operates in the Jupiter system, which is more than five times as far from the Sun as Earth. 

Europa Clipper is being assembled at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and is managed in partnership with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. The spacecraft will ship to Florida later this year for launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, is managing the launch service.  

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Europa Clipper Solar Arrays Arrive at NASA for Jupiter Moon Mission

Container of five-panel solar arrays arrive Wed. Feb. 21 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida
The transport carrier containing the five-panel solar arrays for NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft arrives at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. Photo credit: NASA/ Ben Smegelsky

NASA’s mission to study Jupiter’s icy moon Europa completed another milestone as power supply hardware for the Europa Clipper spacecraft arrived on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Workers unloaded the five-panel solar arrays at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. The solar arrays will attach to the spacecraft to power it on the 1.8-billion-mile journey to Europa. Strong evidence shows an ocean beneath Europa’s crust that is twice the volume of all the Earth’s oceans combined, and scientists want to determine if any areas can support life.

Five panel solar arrays arrive at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The arrays will attach to the Europa Clipper to travel to Jupiter.
The transport carrier containing the five-panel solar arrays for NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft arrives at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

The solar array travelled by air from Leiden, Netherlands, where Airbus workers assembled them over the last year. Once at the Port of Miami in Florida, a truck transported the arrays to Kennedy.

The two solar arrays will collect enough sunlight for the spacecraft’s power needs as it operates in the Jupiter system, which is more than five times as far from the Sun as Earth. Each solar array is 46.5 feet long. With its solar arrays deployed, Europa Clipper spans more than 100 feet (about 30.5 meters), or about the length of a basketball court.

The spacecraft will perform dozens of close flybys of Europa to gather measurements of the internal ocean, map the surface composition and geology, and hunt for plumes of water vapor that might be venting from the icy crust.

Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission. It has nine dedicated science instruments, and the spacecraft’s electronics are enclosed in a vault made from aluminum-zinc alloy to protect them from intense radiation of Jupiter.

Europa Clipper is being assembled at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Southern California and will travel to Kennedy early this summer. Launch is targeted for October 2024 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A, with a planned arrival at Jupiter in April 2030. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, is managing the launch service.