NASA’s Europa Clipper mission — named after nineteenth-century clipper ships — is now successfully on its way to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa after its launch on 14 October 2024. Europa is believed to have an ocean beneath its icy surface, possibly harbouring the right conditions for life. To investigate, the spacecraft will conduct nearly 50 close fly-bys of Europa to collect data. One of the mission’s biggest challenges is Jupiter’s intense radiation, which can damage the spacecraft’s electronic systems over time. To counter this, Europa Clipper’s electronics are shielded in a specially designed vault made from titanium and aluminium — a strategy first used in NASA’s Juno mission, which has been studying Jupiter since 2016. Like Juno, which was the first solar-powered spacecraft designed by NASA to venture so far from the sun, Europa Clipper relies on multi-junction gallium arsenide solar arrays to generate power in the low-light environment around Jupiter. These solar arrays are important for meeting the spacecraft’s power demands, as it needs to support and power a wide range of investigative instruments in addition to essential onboard operations. The spacecraft aims to reach Europa by 2030, and scientists hope that this mission will inform on the habitability of ocean worlds beyond Earth.

美国宇航局的木卫二快船任务——以 19 世纪的快船命名——在 2024 年 10 月 14 日发射后，现已成功前往木星的冰冷卫星木卫二。据信，木卫二冰冷的表面下有一片海洋，可能为生命提供了合适的条件。为了进行调查，该航天器将对木卫二进行近 50 次近距离飞行以收集数据。该任务面临的最大挑战之一是木星的强烈辐射，随着时间的推移，它会损坏航天器的电子系统。为了解决这个问题，Europa Clipper 的电子设备被屏蔽在一个专门设计的钛和铝制成的保险库中——这种策略首次用于 NASA 的朱诺任务，该任务自 2016 年以来一直在研究木星。与美国宇航局设计的第一艘远离太阳的太阳能航天器“朱诺号”一样，“木卫二快船”也依靠多结砷化镓太阳能电池阵列在木星周围的弱光环境中发电。这些太阳能电池阵列对于满足航天器的电力需求非常重要，因为除了必要的机载操作外，它还需要支持各种调查仪器并为之供电。该航天器的目标是到 2030 年到达木卫二，科学家们希望这项任务能够了解地球以外海洋世界的宜居性。