SpaceX Ditched an Entire Falcon Heavy To Launch NASA's Massive Probe To Europa!

NASA's Europa Clipper mission will be the largest spacecraft ever to go into deep space. The 6 ton spacecraft will eventually arrive at Jupiter in 2030 and will make multiple flypasts of Europa, Jupiter's second moon, which is believed to have a substantial sub-surface ocean, warmed by tidal heating from the giant planet.
This mission will spend years using its instruments to give us a better understanding of Jupiter's icy moons, which may sustain a complex chemical system in their oceans, and perhaps complex enough to support abiogenesis - that is, the formation of life. While the probe is unlikely to be able to provide definitive proof of this, it will absolutely give the world the best look yet at a world which may have all the right ingredients for this.

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[millerjt]

Propulsion lead from Goddard here! Excellent video, Scott. We're so happy this thing is off the ground and heading outbound :)

Fun stats: we're expecting the Jupiter orbit insertion burn to require around 800 m/s dV, take ~5.5-6 hrs, and consume approximately 60% of our total loaded propellant.

[scottyallen]

Another thorough video, Scott. Yes, I finally made it into one of your videos. I was one of the design engineers following the deploying magnetometer boom we delivered to JPL that you showed being deployed in a JPL cleanroom.

[toreyweaver]

Man, the amount of precision to hit all of these gravity assists is mind boggling. In the emptiness of space with compounding difficulty surrounding the accuracy - just wild.

[gg]

Hi Scott. Excellent overview. I was the mechanical system engineer at JPL. The Venus fly by was based on the Delta 4 heavy LV. Early on we had SLS but it wasn't guaranteed. We fell into this time period where there were no LV available on the market so if SLS fell thru, we would have to piece together a Delta 4. Once FH became a possible LV, we started work shopping a Star 48 or Orion 50XL kick stage. Psyche work led to the MEGA option that made the kick stage obsolete. So we removed some .65AU capabilities for the less stressing .82AU hot case. We still have huge temp ranges. SA are deployed and everything is working well so far. Few little "whats going on" but working well. We just finished the first frequency ID. GNC is still working the response data. We're about 2 weeks out till magnetometer deployment and 4ish weeks out till reaction wheel spin up. Go Clipper.
My first time working with SpaceX and they were great.
You should do a quick video on the MOSFET issue.
Maybe we'll get an Enceladus Clipper next.... While we still have the engineering knowledge on hand.

[alexb-mcjo]

Shoulda brought a Mystery goo, or a gravioli smh

[titanCT]

1:40 I was legitimately shocked by that size comparison. This thing is huge!!

[riparianlife]

Imagine you're on a 4 year trip to Mars, and after 2 years, a faster spacecraft passes you.

[JustSomeCanuck]

Don't confuse this with Europa Clippy, which is forever annoyingly asking Europa Clipper if it needs help performing those spectrometer readings.




I'll see myself out.

[brianbarnes]

Scott, I've been a subscriber for a long time now, and I have to say that this is one of the best videos that you've done. Your ability to explain some very complex information without leaving anything (much) out is really a joy to watch.

[riuphane]

This is probably the single best video covering the Europa Clipper I've seen. So cool, hard to wait 5+ years for the first contact after approach.

[anthonystownsend]

Europa and the Europa Clipper mission and why it's the best chance of finding life outside of Earth was the subject of my final assessment for my astronomy subject at University. I'm so pumped for this mission.

[RickTheClipper]

“ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS, EXCEPT EUROPA.
ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE.
USE THEM TOGETHER. USE THEM IN PEACE.”

[timothy]

What’s even freakier is most of the ionizing particles in those radiation belts are emissions from IO, ionized by the radiation and then accelerated to relativistic speeds by Jupiter’s magnetosphere.

Edit: that was a fascinating realization since prior to learning that I thought it was just trapped solar wind

[mendezticker]

Thank you for shouting out sewing in aerospace!

[paulmichaelfreedman]

11:55 did they even simulate the stuck-halfway high gain antenna??? Cool!

[tehlaser]

Oh, right, I keep forgetting 2030 isn’t actually “forever” away. It’s just five-and-a-half-ish years ‘til this gets to Jupiter.

[lmostini]

Knowing more about Europa & Enceladus has been two things very close to my heart!

Your work is exemplary Scott. Thank you kindly for this magnificent overview of a deeply important mission.

[mumakin]

The period sketches are beautiful! I've never seen those before. Thanks for putting them in

[E-JO]

@scott manley Could you one day make a video, on how the launch companies come up with those complicated maneuvers? How do they come up with for example 2 gravity assist of Venus, one from earth, one from.. etc and arrive at the destiny? Is there a supercomputer that runs tons of options, how do they know that or when planets align perfectly for multiple gravity assists? I hope I inspired you for this question, because I would be very curious!

[jtbDDOepMNNVIpk]

Whenever I hear about Jupiters moons I think of the expanse. Such a great show.