NASA confirms Europa Clipper launch on October 10, 2024 with questionable transistors
NASA yesterday confirmed that it has decided to go ahead with the October 10, 2024 launch of its $5+ billion Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter, despite the installation of transistors on the spacecraft that the agency knows are not properly hardened for that harsh environment.
Those transistors were built by a German company as part of equipment used by the spacecraft’s electrical system. Apparently that company hired a subcontractor to furnish the transistors, which failed to make them to the right specifications. Subsequent testing found that it is quite likely that at least some of the transistors will fail when Europa Clipper reaches Jupiter orbit.
It appears that NASA decided that the issue risk was small enough for the mission to achieve its minimal expected results, and decided the cost of delay and bad publicity replacing the transistors before launch would be worse than the limited science payoff and bad publicity that would take place years hence, when those transistors fail.
Remember this story in in 2030 when Europa Clipper enters Jupiter orbit and begins to experience problems.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
NASA yesterday confirmed that it has decided to go ahead with the October 10, 2024 launch of its $5+ billion Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter, despite the installation of transistors on the spacecraft that the agency knows are not properly hardened for that harsh environment.
Those transistors were built by a German company as part of equipment used by the spacecraft’s electrical system. Apparently that company hired a subcontractor to furnish the transistors, which failed to make them to the right specifications. Subsequent testing found that it is quite likely that at least some of the transistors will fail when Europa Clipper reaches Jupiter orbit.
It appears that NASA decided that the issue risk was small enough for the mission to achieve its minimal expected results, and decided the cost of delay and bad publicity replacing the transistors before launch would be worse than the limited science payoff and bad publicity that would take place years hence, when those transistors fail.
Remember this story in in 2030 when Europa Clipper enters Jupiter orbit and begins to experience problems.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Throwing good money after bad.
Mr. Z.
NASA has apparently done some testing that leads it to believe Europa Clipper might function adequately even if not necessarily perfectly. That being the case, NASA might as well send it off and hope for the best. A multi-year teardown and repair operation to replace the iffy MOSFETs at issue would be expensive and wouldn’t even necessarily improve the overall odds of Clipper working out when it finally got to Jupiter as other weaknesses might be introduced during all the remediation work.
Clipper was always a compromise design anyway, which is why, even with perfect MOSFETs, it can only do fly-bys of Europa instead of what is really needed for proper long-term study, namely go into orbit around Europa. That would require a much more radiation-hardened craft than Clipper is going to be even if its suspect MOSFETs turn out to work. Perhaps NASA can work on such a thing while Clipper is en route.
As far as potential disappointment in 2030, if I’m still around to be potentially disappointed I’ll count that a considerable positive. As I believe we are rough contemporaries, I should think you would be of a similar attitude.
Dick Eagleson: Yes, we are rough contemporaries in age, and thinking. I however hate it when people make stupid decisions for the wrong reasons, and in this case that’s what I think NASA has done. It might get done some science, but overall this whole project has been based on politics and bad management, not real research.
But I do agree, if I am around in 2030 to either celebrate Europa Clipper’s unexpected success or condemn its failure I will consider that ability to be a very positive thing. :)