Europa

Astrobiology Droid Update: Europa Clipper Solar Array Alignment, Installation and Integration

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
August 20, 2024
Filed under , , , ,
Astrobiology Droid Update: Europa Clipper Solar Array Alignment, Installation and Integration
Europa Clipper Solar Array Alignment, Installation and Integration — NASA

Technicians tested deploying a set of massive solar arrays measuring about 46.5 feet (14.2 meters) long and about 13.5 feet (4.1 meters) high for NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft inside the agency’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024.

Once launched to study Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, the solar arrays will fully extend to power the spacecraft to perform flybys to gather science and data to determine if the moon can support habitable conditions.

NASA ID: KSC-20240807-PH-KLS01_0065 _ larger image

Astrobiology

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻