Europa Clipper's Giant Communication Dish Has Been Reattached for Launch...

NASA / Kim Shiflett

NASA Installs High-Gain Antenna for Mission to Study Icy Moon of Jupiter (News Release)

When NASA’s Europa Clipper is in orbit around Jupiter, transmitting science data and receiving commands from Earth across hundreds of millions of miles, it will need a powerful antenna. Technicians installed the spacecraft’s high-gain antenna inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 17.

Scheduled to launch later this year, Europa Clipper will embark on a 1.8-billion-mile (2.6-billion-kilometer) journey to Jupiter. It is the largest spacecraft that NASA has developed for a planetary mission.

Set to arrive in April 2030, Europa Clipper will study the gas giant’s icy moon, Europa, to determine its potential to support life.

The spacecraft will conduct approximately 50 flybys of Europa, allowing its nine science instruments to gather data on the moon’s atmosphere, its ice crust and the ocean underneath. The nearly 10-feet-wide (3-meter) dish-shaped antenna and several smaller antennas will transmit the data to Earth, a trip that will take about 45 minutes when the spacecraft is in orbit around Jupiter.

To ensure that Europa Clipper has the necessary bandwidth, the antenna will operate on NASA’s deep space X-band radio frequencies of 7.2 and 8.4 (GHz), and Ka-band at 32 (GHz), through the agency’s Deep Space Network - a global array of large radio antennas that communicate with dozens of spacecraft throughout the solar system.

Europa Clipper underscores NASA’s commitment to exploring our solar system for habitable conditions beyond Earth. Although Europa Clipper is not a life-detection mission, understanding Europa’s habitability will help us better understand how life developed on Earth and whether we’re likely to find conditions that might support life beyond our planet.

Technicians at NASA Kennedy will continue to prepare the spacecraft for its mission and perform final checkouts as part of launch preparations. Europa Clipper is scheduled to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A, no earlier than October 2024.

Europa Clipper’s high-gain antenna was designed by the Johns Hopkins University APL (Applied Physics Laboratory) in Laurel, Maryland, and aerospace vendor AASC (Applied Aerospace Structures Corporation) in Stockton, California.

Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with APL for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The main spacecraft body was designed by APL in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, manages the launch service for the Europa Clipper spacecraft.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Kim Shiflett

Another Spectacular SoCal Light Show by SpaceX...

Richard T. Par

A few hours ago, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 rocket carrying 20 new Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. This is the first time since early April, and fifth time overall since 2018, that I watched a Falcon 9 launch dazzle the evening sky from here in Los Angeles County!

Liftoff occurred at 8:40 PM, PDT...which was the ideal time for SpaceX to conduct a launch since the sky was dark enough for the Falcon 9's contrail to glow brilliantly above the landscape. Not only did the contrail shine above Southern California, but so did the Falcon 9's twin payload fairings and first stage booster (shown above) as they were absolutely visible during their return to Earth to be recovered by SpaceX vessels (including the drone ship, Of Course I Still Love You, in the case of the first stage booster) waiting off the SoCal coastline in the Pacific Ocean.

I'll never get tired of seeing these spectacular light shows put on by SpaceX! I've read online that United Launch Alliance will launch its brand-new Vulcan Centaur rocket from Vandenberg sometime next year... What are the chances that Vulcan lifts off at dusk and follows the same flight trajectory as Falcon 9 so that rocket geeks like me can photograph it (using my Google Pixel 4A phone and Nikon D3300 DSLR camera, like I did tonight) in all its liquid methane and liquid oxygen-fueled glory?

We'll see!


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par

Falcon 9 delivers 20 @Starlink satellites to orbit from California pic.twitter.com/cIxiifeAGj

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 19, 2024

Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on Of Course I Still Love You droneship pic.twitter.com/oftsMhP728

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 19, 2024

Humanity's Most-Distant Interstellar Probe is Pretty Much Back to Normal...

Caltech / NASA - JPL

Voyager 1 Returning Science Data From All Four Instruments (News Release - June 13)

NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is conducting normal science operations for the first time following a technical issue that arose in November 2023.

The team partially resolved the issue in April when they prompted the spacecraft to begin returning engineering data, which includes information about the health and status of the spacecraft. On May 19, the mission team executed the second step of that repair process and beamed a command to the spacecraft to begin returning science data.

Two of the four science instruments returned to their normal operating modes immediately. Two other instruments required some additional work, but now, all four are returning usable science data.

The four instruments study plasma waves, magnetic fields and particles. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are the only spacecraft to directly sample interstellar space, which is the region outside the heliosphere — the protective bubble of magnetic fields and solar wind created by the Sun.

While Voyager 1 is back to conducting science, additional minor work is needed to clean up the effects of the issue. Among other tasks, engineers will resynchronize timekeeping software in the spacecraft’s three onboard computers so they can execute commands at the right time.

The team will also perform maintenance on the digital tape recorder, which records some data for the plasma wave instrument that is sent to Earth twice per year. (Most of the Voyagers’ science data is sent directly to Earth and not recorded.)

Voyager 1 is more than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, and Voyager 2 is more than 12 billion miles (20 billion kilometers) from the planet. The probes will mark 47 years of operations later this year.

The Voyagers are NASA’s longest-running and most-distant spacecraft. Both spacecraft flew past Jupiter and Saturn, while Voyager 2 also flew past Uranus and Neptune.

Source: NASA.Gov

In Memoriam #2...

Last night, I found out through Google that Masuimi Max—a model who I met at the 2005 Hot Import Nights in Los Angeles—passed away in her Las Vegas home earlier this year (on January 25)...sadly due to a drug overdose.

Masuimi was 45 years old. May she rest in peace.

Remembering Mr. Clutch...

Rest in Peace, Jerry West.

The architect behind the Shaquille O'Neal/Kobe Bryant Lakers championship teams, as well as the inspiration behind the NBA logo itself, peacefully passed away today at his home in Los Angeles.

West was 86.

Along with being the only player in NBA history to be named Finals MVP even though he was on the losing team (when the Boston Celtics beat the Lakers in 1969 to win the championship), West was a Hall of Fame executive who left a mark not only with the Lakers, but also with the Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers.

With eight championships as an executive under his belt (from 1980 through 2017), West's greatest achievement as an NBA general manager was bringing Shaq and Kobe to Los Angeles back in the summer of 1996. Lakers fans will eternally be grateful for everything that he did for the City of Angels.

Say hi to Bill Walton and Kobe for us, Jerry.

America and Europe's Next Flagship Mission to the Red Planet Is Still Being Revised...

NASA / JPL - Caltech

NASA Exploring Alternative Mars Sample Return Methods (Press Release)

NASA is moving forward with ten studies to examine more affordable and faster methods of bringing samples from Mars’ surface back to Earth as part of the agency’s Mars Sample Return Program. As part of this effort, NASA will award a firm-fixed-price contract for up to $1.5 million to conduct 90-day studies to seven industry proposers.

Additionally, NASA centers, Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Laboratory are producing studies. Once completed, NASA will assess all studies to consider alterations or enhancements to the Mars Sample Return architecture.

“Mars Sample Return will be one of the most complex missions NASA has undertaken, and it is critical that we carry it out more quickly, with less risk, and at a lower cost,” said Nelson. “I’m excited to see the vision that these companies, centers and partners present as we look for fresh, exciting and innovative ideas to uncover great cosmic secrets from the Red Planet.”

Over the last quarter century, NASA has engaged in a systematic effort to determine the early history of Mars and how it can help us understand the formation and evolution of habitable worlds, including Earth. As part of that effort, Mars Sample Return has been a long-term goal of international planetary exploration for the past two decades.

NASA’s Perseverance rover has been collecting samples for later collection and return to Earth since it landed on Mars in 2021.

The following companies and proposals were selected from among those that responded to an April 15 request for proposals:

- Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado: Lockheed Martin Rapid Mission Design Studies for Mars Sample Return
- SpaceX in Hawthorne, California: Enabling Mars Sample Return With Starship
- Aerojet Rocketdyne in Huntsville, Alabama: A High-Performance Liquid Mars Ascent Vehicle, Using Highly Reliable and Mature Propulsion Technologies, to Improve Program Affordability and Schedule
- Blue Origin in Monrovia, California: Leveraging Artemis for Mars Sample Return
- Quantum Space, in Rockville, Maryland: Quantum Anchor Leg Mars Sample Return Study
- Northrop Grumman in Elkton, Maryland: High TRL MAV Propulsion Trades and Concept Design for MSR Rapid Mission Design
- Whittinghill Aerospace in Camarillo, California: A Rapid Design Study for the MSR Single Stage Mars Ascent Vehicle”

NASA’s Mars Sample Return is a strategic partnership with ESA (the European Space Agency). Returning scientifically-selected samples to Earth for study using the most sophisticated instruments around the world can revolutionize our understanding of Mars and would fulfill one of the highest-priority solar system exploration goals as identified by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.

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Webb's Predecessor Is Really Starting to Show Its Age...

NASA

NASA to Change How It Points Hubble Space Telescope (News Release)

After completing a series of tests and carefully considering the options, NASA announced on Tuesday that work is underway to transition its Hubble Space Telescope to operate using only one gyroscope (gyro). While the telescope went into safe mode on May 24, where it now remains until work is complete, this change will enable Hubble to continue exploring the secrets of the Universe through this decade and into the next, with the majority of its observations unaffected.

Of the six gyros currently on the spacecraft, three remain active. They measure the telescope’s slew rates and are part of the system that determines and controls the direction that the telescope is pointed.

Over the past six months, one particular gyro has increasingly returned faulty readings, causing the spacecraft to enter safe mode multiple times and suspending science observations while the telescope awaits new instructions from the ground.

This one gyro is experiencing “saturation,” where it indicates the maximum slew rate value possible regardless of how quickly the spacecraft is slewing. Although the team has repeatedly been able to reset the gyro’s electronics to return normal readings, the results have only been temporary before the problem reappears as it did again in late May.

To return to consistent science operations, NASA is transitioning the spacecraft to a new operational mode that it had long considered: Hubble will operate with only one gyro, while keeping another gyro available for future use. The spacecraft had six new gyros installed during the fifth and final space shuttle servicing mission in 2009.

To date, three of those gyros remain operational, including the gyro currently experiencing problems, which the team will continue to monitor. Hubble uses three gyros to maximize efficiency but can continue to make science observations with only one gyro.

NASA first developed this plan more than 20 years ago, as the best operational mode to prolong Hubble’s life and allow it to successfully provide consistent science with fewer than three working gyros. Hubble previously operated in two-gyro mode, which is negligibly different from one-gyro mode, from 2005-2009.

One-gyro operations were demonstrated in 2008 for a short time with no impact to science observation quality.

While continuing to make science observations in one-gyro mode, there are some expected minor limitations. The observatory will need more time to slew and lock onto a science target and won't have as much flexibility as to where it can observe at any given time.

It will also not be able to track moving objects closer than Mars, though these are rare targets for Hubble.

The transition involves reconfiguring the spacecraft and ground system as well as assessing the impact to future planned observations. The team expects to resume science operations again by mid-June.

Once in one-gyro mode, NASA anticipates that Hubble will continue making new cosmic discoveries alongside other observatories, such as the agency’s James Webb Space Telescope and future Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, for years to come.

Launched in 1990, Hubble has more than doubled its expected design lifetime, and has been observing the Universe for more than three decades, recently celebrating its 34th anniversary. Read more about some of Hubble’s greatest scientific discoveries.

Source: NASA.Gov

America's Next Jupiter-bound Orbiter Has Been Unboxed at KSC to Undergo Launch Preps...

NASA / Kim Shiflett

NASA’s Europa Clipper Unpacks in Florida (News Release - May 31)

Crews rotated to vertical then lifted NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft from its protective shipping container after it arrived at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 28.

The spacecraft, which will collect data to help scientists determine if Jupiter’s icy moon Europa could support life, arrived in a United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane at Kennedy’s Launch and Landing Facility on May 23. The hardware traveled more than 2,500 miles from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California where it was assembled.

The team transported Europa Clipper to the PHSF and will perform a number of activities to prepare it for launch, including attaching the high-gain antenna, affixing solar arrays to power the spacecraft, and loading propellants that will help guide the spacecraft to its destination.

On board are nine science instruments to gather detailed measurements while Europa Clipper performs approximately 50 close flybys of the Jovian moon. Research suggests an ocean twice the volume of all the Earth’s oceans exists under Europa’s icy crust.

The Europa Clipper spacecraft will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A. The launch period opens on Thursday, October 10.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Kim Shiflett


NASA / Kim Shiflett


NASA / Kim Shiflett