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The Hunt for Life Continues An Update on NASA’s Mission to Saturn’s Moon, Europa
Michael Weinhoffer Senior Reporter In 2023, a rocket will launch from Cape Canaveral that will send a spacecraft on a mission dedicated to the study of Jupiter’s fourth largest moon, Europa. Along with Enceladus and Titan, moons of Saturn, Europa may harbor some form of life, especially in its subsurface ocean. The spacecraft, called the Europa Clipper, will be the first orbiting spacecraft that looks for signs of life on another planetary body. The mission may be followed by a Europa lander, which would increase the possibility of finding signs of life on this unique and beautiful moon. Europa is slightly smaller in diameter than the Earth’s moon, and its surface is covered in water ice. There is a strong likelihood that there is a global ocean underneath its surface that may contain twice as much water as Earth’s ocean. Europa may also be home to hydrothermal vents, which are underwater fissures that release heated water and organic chemicals into the ocean. Earth’s ocean contains hydrothermal vents, and they are the perfect breeding grounds for small organisms. Confirming the existence of hydrothermal vents on Europa would therefore be another indicator of potential subsurface
life. Unfortunately, due to Europa’s proximity to Jupiter, it is blasted by Jupiter’s radiation, so exploring the moon is a challenge. Most of our data on Europa comes from the Galileo spacecraft, which studied the Jovian system from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s. However, the Europa Clipper will be the first spacecraft to perform a dedicated study of the moon. The European Space Agency is also developing a Jupiter system explorer, called the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), which will launch in 2022 and study three of Jupiter’s largest moons: Ganymede, Callisto, and of course Europa. Although JUICE will likely launch before Europa Clipper, it will arrive at Jupiter a few years later because of its planned trajectory. The Europa Clipper will carry nine scientific instruments to Europa, including two cameras. The spacecraft will carry an ice-penetrating radar and an instrument that will analyze solid particles ejected from Europa’s surface. In March of this year, NASA announced that one of the instruments, ICEMAG, will have to be replaced with a less complex version because of technical complexity and cost overruns. ICEMAG is a magnetometer, which is an instrument used to study magnetic fields. A less complex mag-
netometer will still be able to help explore Europa’s ocean, including determining its salinity and depth. The good news is that a prototype of the spacecraft’s primary antenna is currently undergoing testing at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia. Despite its distance from the Sun, the spacecraft will be powered by two large solar arrays instead of a nuclear-powered generator, such as the one onboard New Horizons. Due to technology advancements, solar arrays can power spacecraft farther from the Sun than ever before, which reduces NASA’s dependence on plutonium fuel, which is in short supply. Because of the high-radiation environment of Europa, the spacecraft will orbit Jupiter instead and perform multiple fast flybys of the moon. This will allow an intense study of Europa without major radiation damage to the spacecraft. The most pressing issue regarding the Europa mission is deciding which rocket the spacecraft will use to get to Jupiter as soon as possible after launch. NASA budget authorizations approved by Congress mandate that Europe Clipper fly on NASA’s much-delayed Space Launch System (SLS) in 2023. SLS will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world when it debuts in 2020, and the most basic version
of the rocket can carry the spacecraft to Jupiter in three years. All other spacecraft launched to the outer solar system have used one or more gravity assists to reach their final destination. By flying close to a large planet like Jupiter, spacecraft gain velocity without expending fuel. If the Europa Clipper is launched on SLS, no gravity assist will be used, which will greatly reduce the time it takes for it to reach Jupiter and overall mission complexity. However, NASA’s new goal of returning humans to the Moon in 2024 complicates this arrangement. Since SLS is only designed to launch once per year, the number of flight opportunities between now and 2024 is limited, so NASA wants to make the most of each flight. If the spacecraft is launched on a commercial rocket instead, there would be another opportunity to fly astronauts on SLS after the first crewed mission in 2022. A rocket such as the Falcon Heavy or Atlas V with a solid-fuel third stage could launch Europa Clipper, but it would have a longer journey because of the required gravity assist. No matter how long it takes to get to Europa, the Europa Clipper mission will shed some light on the greatest question humans have pondered: are we alone in our solar system?
Falcon Heavy: Arabsat-6A Vipul Telang Photo Editor On Thursday, 11 April 2019, SpaceX made history by successfully launching Arabsat-6A, the first commercial satellite to fly onboard Falcon Heavy. The communications satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, is the first of two satellites planned in the Arabsat-6G program. Arabsat-6A will provide television, internet, and telephone communications to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. After SpaceX scrubbed the first launch attempt on Wednesday due to high upper-level winds, the 27 Merlin engines roared to life at the top of the launch window on Thursday, pushing the 3.1 million-pound rocket towards geostationary orbit at 6:35 p.m. The second stage pushed the satellite into a nominal trajectory thirty-four minutes after liftoff. SpaceX successfully landed all three boosters, which marked the first successful recovery of the boosters. The two side boosters touched down on Landing Zone 1 & 2 on the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, while the center core successfully landed on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You.” SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced on Twitter that the successfully recovered payload fairing will be reused later this year, a first for the company.
This was the second successful launch of Falcon Heavy. Last February, SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy Demo Flight from LC39A. Elon Musk’s personal Midnight Cherry Red Tesla Roadster was used as the dummy payload to demonstrate the capabilities of the world’s largest currently operational rocket. Arabsat-6A, weighing at 6,460 kg, was technically able to be launched on a Falcon 9 rocket instead of the Falcon Heavy, but the booster would have been fully expendable. Using the Falcon Heavy allowed the satellite to be put into a more precise orbit, as well as allow more parts of the rocket to be reused. With the flawless execution of the launch and landing, SpaceX has proved that Falcon Heavy is ready for other commercial launches. This could not come at a more opportune time for the company, especially on the heels of NASA Director Jim Bridenstine’s announcement last month. The US government was considering launching the Orion Capsule on a commercial rocket instead of the Space Launch System. With some modifications, the Orion capsule could be fitted onto the Falcon Heavy. SpaceX plans to launch the next Falcon Heavy in June, carrying STP-2 for the United States Air Force as well as other smaller satellites.
Vipul Telang/The Avion Newspaper
Side booster reigniting for the landing burn towards Landing Zone 1. The flame is partially green due to triethylaluminium and triethylborane (TEA-TEB) compounds in the igniter.
Jorja Gwaltney/The Avion Newspaper
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is home to thousands of species, including this Common Tern, which was startled from its perch by the launch of the Falcon Heavy.