NASA (via YouTube):
We'll be back soon. The spacecraft is currently undergoing vacuum testing.
I was a huge fan of the livestream for building the Perseverance rover--I'm glad they've got another one running for Clipper. It's fun to check in on the progress of the build and try to guess what they're working on at any given moment.
Scheduled to launch in October 2024 and arrive in the Jupiter system in 2030, NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will place a spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter to perform a detailed investigation of Europa.
This will maximize the scientific return from the lifetime of Europa Clipper, which is investigating the “habitability” of Europa. Habitability is a measure of whether Europa could support life and includes the presence of essential ingredients like liquid water, chemical building blocks and an energy source.
“Europa is considered one of the most likely sites in our solar system to potentially find life,” said SwRI Lead Scientist Dr. Kelly Miller.
Today is a big day for the Europa Clipper team. They'll be testing the craft's thermal pumping system, the last major addition to the spacecraft's vault, a thick-walled aluminum alloy box that holds the spacecraft's "brain": its electronics and computers.
"The thermal pump is the heart of the spacecraft," pumping fluid through tubing to control the craft's temperature, Barajas said. The daylong effort is hazardous because of the high pressure used to test the system with helium, a nonflammable gas.
"Planetary protection has evolved," Barajas said of the strict work requirements he has to follow every day. "No one wants to be the person responsible when extra-terrestrial life is finally found and it turns out to be something we brought there from earth."
"I think that's where the stress comes from, right? That we feel the pressure and the burden of building this vehicle that has been the life's work of some and years of work for many others."
I'll continue updating this thread with news of the Europa Clipper development.
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