The spacecraft’s star trackers help engineers orient the Orbiter through Long Journey to Jupiter’s ICY MOON EUROPA.
Three months after launch from nasa’s kennedy space center in Florida, The Agency’s Europa Clipper has another 1.6 billion miles (2.6 billion kilometers) to go before it Close-up images of the icy moon europa with science cameras .
Meanwhile, a set of cameras serving a different purpose is snapping photos in the space between earth and jupiter. Called Star trackersThe two images look for stars and use it a compass to help mission controllers knowledge Th th smoothly.
In Early December, The Pair of Star Trackers (Formally Known as the Steller Reference Units) Captured and transmitted Europa clipper‘S first imagery of space. The picture, composed of three shoots, shows tiny pinpricks of light from stars 150 to 300 light-Years Away. The starfield represents only about 0.1% of the full Sky Around the spacecraft, but by mapping the stars in just that small Slice of Sky of Sky of Sky, The Orbiter is able and determine Y.
The Starfield Includes the Four Brightest Stars – Gienah, Algorab, Kraz, and Alchiba – of the constellation corvus, which is latin for “crow,” Crow, “a Bird in Greek Mythology
Besides being interesting to stargazers, the photos signal the successful checkout of the star trackers. The spacecraft checkout phase has been going on Since Europa Clipper launched on a spacex falcon heavy rocket on Oct. 14, 2024.
“The star trackers are engineering hardware and are always taking images, which are processed on board,” said joanie noonan of nasa’s”’s jet propulsion laboratory in south , Navigation and control operations. “We useless duan’t downlink photos from the trackers, but we did in this case if it is a really good way to make sure the hardware – Including the cameras and their lenses – Made It Safely Throghe Launch.”
Pointing the spacecraft correctly is not about navigation, which is a separete operation. But orientation using the star trackers is critical for telecommunications as well as for the Science Operations of the Mission. Engineers need to know where the Science instruments Are pointed. That includes the sophisticated Europa Imaging System (EIS). For at least the next three years, eis has its protective covers closed.
Europa Clipper Carries Nine Science Instruments, Plus The Telecommunications Equipment that will be used for a gravity science investment. During the mission’s 49 flybys of europa, the suite will gather data that will tell scientists if the icy moon and its internal Ocean have the conditions to harbor life.
The spacecraft alredy is 53 Million Miles (85 Million kilometers) from Earth, Zipping along 17 Miles per second (27 kilometers per second) relative to the sun, and only will fly by mars. On March 1, Engineers Will Steer the Craft in a Loop Around the Red Planet, Using Its Gravity to Gain Speed.
Europa Clipper’s Three Main Science Objective are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its interactions with the Ocean Bell, to Investigate Its Composion, and to Characterizes The mission’s detailed exploration of europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential potential for habitable Worlds Beyond Our Planet.
Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL Leads The Development of the Europa Clipper Mission in Partnership With the Johns Hopkins applied Physics Laboratory in LaureLand, Maryland, Maryland Sion Directorate in Washington. APL Designed The Main Spacecraft Body in Collection With JPL and Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Nasa’s Marshall Space Flight Center In Hunbama, and Langle amphon, virginia. The Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall Executes Program Management of the Europa Clipper Mission. Nasa’s Launch Services Program, Based at Kennedy, Managed The Launch Service for the Europa Clipper Spacecraft.
Find more information about europa clipper here:
Https://science.nasa.gov/Mmission/europa- Clipper/
Gretchen mxartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-287-4115
Gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
Nasa headquarters, washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
2025-014
