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#1 2021-02-11 23:28:32

Oldfart1939
Member
Registered: 2016-11-26
Posts: 2,366

Europa Clipper is now going to fly Commercial

NASA today announced that Europa Clipper will be flying on  commercial launch vehicle (unnamed). This is another dagger to the heart of the SLS--even though space News doesn't really state it in the article. This is an open competition, but realistically the Falcon Heavy is THE ONLY hardware flying capable of the mission.

https://spacenews.com/nasa-to-use-comme … a-clipper/

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#2 2021-02-12 10:06:57

SpaceNut
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From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,750

Re: Europa Clipper is now going to fly Commercial

At the slow build rate of one plus and a need for a lunar fly by before its landing there are no extra SLS to be had.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launch vehicle is the leading contender to launch Europa Clipper, and has been used in planning for alternatives to SLS.

Well ya 63mT towards orbit.

The planned trajectory is the same as outlined in the solicitation, with a launch during a 21-day window in October 2024, with the spacecraft arriving at Jupiter in April 2030. The Mars Earth Gravity Assist, or MEGA, trajectory includes a flyby of Mars in February 2025 and of Earth in December 2026

The project selected the MEGA trajectory over alternatives that would have included a flyby of Venus. “This provides simplifications for the flight system,” Pappalardo said. There are backup launch opportunities, such as a similar MEGA trajectory in 2026 and one in 2025 that includes an additional Earth flyby.

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#3 2022-01-02 11:40:46

SpaceNut
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From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,750

Re: Europa Clipper is now going to fly Commercial

Mars_B4_Moon wrote:

Jupiter Clipper mission is scheduled to launch in October 2024 aboard a Falcon Heavy

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-falcon … n-mission/

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/07 … ain-price/

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#4 2022-01-02 11:57:41

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 8,893

Re: Europa Clipper is now going to fly Commercial

Jupiter Clipper vs Europa Clipper title? Sometimes I've no idea why I almost always return older hits when searching a thread to post in. Some day I will figure out how to use the search engine correctly

I will quote some of the article

Known as Europa Clipper, the six metric ton (~13,300 lb) spacecraft will instead launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket for less than $180M. Had Falcon Heavy not been ready or NASA shied away from the challenge of switching launch vehicles, sending the ~$4.25 billion orbiter to Jupiter could have easily added more than $3 billion to the mission’s total cost. Instead, Europa Clipper will be able to launch one or two years earlier than SLS would have been ready and at a cost that’s practically a rounding error relative to the alternative...

In an orbit 30% lower than Europa, tidal heating is so aggressive that the moon Io is littered with titanic volcanoes and lava lakes more than 200 km (~120 mi) across – so large that waves have been spotted on its surface with Earth-based telescopes. In short, because Europa appears to be in the right place to have enough – but not too much – tidal heating, it’s believed to be one of the best potential harbors of extraterrestrial life and Europa Clipper’s primary purpose is to pursue that potential astrobiological treasure trove.

Europa Clipper’s history is a truly bizarre one. Championed almost singlehandedly by fundamentalist Christian and former Republican Representative John Culberson, it’s almost certain that the mission would have never come together and never secured enough funding to proceed. Culberson’s singular goal: determine if humanity is (or is not) alone in the universe. If life can independently evolve twice in the same average solar system, the logic goes, it would practically guarantee that life will be omnipresent anywhere we look.

Culberson’s original vision was an orbiter (Clipper) that would effectively scout Europa for a lander that would follow just a few years later. Incredibly, he appears to have all but guaranteed that Europa Clipper will launch. However, he lost a reelection bid in 2018, casting the lander component into limbo before proper funding or commitments could be ascertained. It now seems likely that the future of Europa Lander will depend almost entirely on what Clipper does (or doesn’t) find.

In his 2018 re-election campaign, John Culberson was defeated by attorney Democrat Lizzie Fletcher.

I'm not sure he was the fundamentalist the article describes
Why don't they call out his Democratic opponent Lizzie Pannill Fletcher for cutting support of the NASA lander mission
Mission to place a lander on Europa’s surface has been scrubbed, in part because its major champion in Congress, Representative John Culberson (R-TX), lost his seat.
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/ … /PT.3.4353
He did support Federal Aid and Culberson was the only Texas Republican to support the $50.7 billion relief effort after Hurricane Sandy
Culberson had described himself as a "Fiscally conservative 'Jeffersonian Republican'... committed to Thomas Jefferson's vision of limited government, individual liberty, and states' rights."

&

Scientists were also concerned that the oft-delayed SLS rocket would simply not be ready for a 2024 launch date, and selecting it would delay the science mission.

...

"Nobody is saying we're not going on the SLS," Barry Goldstein, of NASA, said at a meeting in November 2018. "But if by chance we don't, we don't have the challenge of the inner Solar System. This was a major development. This was a big deal for us."

Second, after finalizing plans for the Artemis Moon Program, NASA realized that the primary contractor for the SLS rocket's core stage, Boeing, simply was not up to the task of building an additional rocket for the Clipper mission in time. All of the SLS core stages, NASA officials realized, would be needed to support the effort to land humans on the Moon in the mid-2020s.

Finally, what forced Shelby and the rest of Congress to give in was a "shaking" issue with the SLS rocket. This large vehicle is powered off the pad by two very large solid rocket boosters that produce significant vibrations. SLS program officials had been telling the agency's leadership that the torsional load—essentially a measurement of twisting and vibration—was a certain value. However, after NASA performed wind-tunnel testing, the actual torsional load value was nearly double the SLS program estimates.

Accommodating for this launch stress, NASA officials told Ars, would have required an additional $1 billion in modifications to make the spacecraft more robust. That additional cost was ultimately what led NASA to be able to make Friday's announcement.

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#5 2022-01-02 12:04:08

SpaceNut
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From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,750

Re: Europa Clipper is now going to fly Commercial

It was originally slated for the SLS but the delays were part of the decision making to change vehicle launch type.

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#6 2023-08-20 08:46:12

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 8,893

Re: Europa Clipper is now going to fly Commercial

Mission milestone unlocked: EuropaClipper’s high-gain antenna has been installed!
https://twitter.com/NASAJPL/status/1691538352095563776
The 3-meter antenna will allow the spacecraft to communicate with mission controllers hundreds of millions of miles back on Earth while exploring Jupiter’s icy moon.

There currently is also an ESA mission en-route 'Juice' both of these missions have elements international cooperation of Science instrument but they are separate missions.

NASA awarded the launch to Space-X Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center

https://web.archive.org/web/20210724020 … r-mission/

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-08-20 08:47:52)

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