NASA’s $5 Billion Europa Clipper Mission at Risk: Scientists Uncover Major Flaw in Spacecraft

In late May, the Europa Clipper spacecraft was transported to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to prepare for its launch this October. Weeks before, scientists found out that the spacecraft may not survive Jupiter’s radiation. Does it mean all the effort and vast sums of money invested may be in vain? 

Searching for Alien Life in Ocean Moon of Jupiter

Jupiter’s moon Europa is considered one of the most promising locations in our solar system to look for lifeforms beyond Earth. Scientists believe an ocean of liquid water is hidden beneath its icy surface, containing twice as much seawater as Earth’s oceans. It’s likely that the conditions may be suitable for supporting life, which needs to be explored more closely.

Europa Clipper is NASA’s first mission aiming to study the surface of Europa and find out whether it could be habitable. The enormous spacecraft, measuring around 30 metres in length, is set to travel approximately 770 million kilometres to reach Jupiter’s orbit in 2030.

After it begins orbiting Jupiter, Europa Clipper is intended to spend about a year preparing for its first Europa flyby. Over the course of three years, it will make roughly 50 flybys of the moon, sending valuable data back to Earth for analysis.

NASA Scientists “Howl in Terror”

Following recent findings, the Europa Clipper mission has been put in jeopardy. 

NASA has invested over $5 billion in the spacecraft, equipped it with cutting-edge technology, and made it the largest the agency has ever built for a planetary mission. What could possibly go wrong?

The scientists discovered that the essential transistors aboard the spacecraft would be destroyed by Jupiter’s intense radiation. They immediately informed the mission’s lead scientist, Curt Niebur, with an urgent email.

“You open that email right away,” Curt Niebur said. “You read it, and then you reply, “Thank you for sharing,” and then you bury your face in a pillow and you howl in terror.”

Jupiter has one of the most horrifying radiation environments. The planet is surrounded by a gigantic magnetic field 20,000 times stronger than Earth’s. It captures and accelerates charged particles, creating radiation that can seriously damage spacecraft. 

The tiny black components known as MOSFETs (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors) were supposed to survive these severe conditions. However, tests suddenly showed they were failing in intense radiation environments. These transistors, essential for controlling the flow of electricity, are used extensively in the Europa Clipper – with around 1,500 of them scattered throughout the spacecraft, though their exact locations were difficult to determine. Replacing all of them could cost a billion dollars and take years, so the scientists were in desperate need of a quick and effective solution.

Is There a Solution?

Fortunately, yes, and it’s called annealing – essentially a side effect of radiation. 

Heating a transistor allows its atoms to rearrange and redistribute in a restored condition. This process should protect the spacecraft from damage for at least four years, sufficient time for the mission to be completed.

The Europa Clipper is made up of different types of MOSFETs, each of which may react differently to Jupiter’s intense radiation. Once in flight, there would be no way for the mission’s engineers to monitor how the MOSFETs were performing, and they could potentially fail. Therefore, the scientists came up with an interesting idea: they took samples of each type of MOSFET and put them in a box attached to the spacecraft. They called it “the canary box”. If a certain type of MOSFET failed in the box, the team would know to anneal that type of transistor throughout the spacecraft.

Is the Mission Saved?

NASA representatives assure that their new plan is working and Europa Clipper would be on the launchpad on 10 October, as planned. 

Hopefully, the journey will be successful and in 2030 the first NASA’s Europa observer will reach its destination to reveal if there is life beyond the icy ocean of Jupiter’s moon.