NASA’s Europa Clipper features 3D printed topology-optimized bracket
It has to hold for 5.5 years traveling through space. That's that reliability of AM today
The long-anticipated launch of NASA’s Europa Clipper from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) marked the culmination of years of dedicated work. Hundreds of engineers, scientists, and researchers have spent countless hours designing, building, and testing the spacecraft to prepare it for its 5½-year journey to Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa. Among the various components, one significant milestone for JPL’s additive manufacturing team is the inclusion of a topology-optimized bracket, 3D printed from Al6061R2 material on an EOS M290 printer, adhering to NASA’s strict 6030 standard.
The Europa Clipper spacecraft
Europa Clipper is a robotic solar-powered spacecraft built to conduct the first detailed investigations of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter and make nearly 50 flybys of Europa to determine whether there are places below Europa’s surface that could support life.
With its solar arrays deployed, Europa Clipper spans more than 100 feet (about 30 meters) – about the length of a basketball court. The main body of the spacecraft consists of its avionics vault, radiofrequency module, and propulsion module.
At launch, Europa Clipper will weigh approximately 13,000 pounds (6,000 kilograms). Almost half of the weight will be fuel – nearly 6,000 pounds (2,750 kilograms) of propellant.
Europa Clipper’s nine science instruments are the most advanced and sensitive that have ever explored the outer solar system. Some of the instrument sensors are installed on the nadir deck, which stabilizes them to ensure they are oriented correctly toward Europa during flybys. The two instruments are designed to capture gas and dust face instead in the direction of spacecraft motion. Radar antennas are mounted directly onto the spacecraft’s solar arrays. In addition, the spacecraft’s magnetometer and plasma sensors are on a boom that extends from the spacecraft, reducing obstructions and magnetic interference from the spacecraft. The instruments’ electronics are installed in a vault to protect them from radiation.
The Europa Clipper mission
Europa Clipper represents NASA’s first dedicated mission to explore Europa, one of the four largest moons of Jupiter, discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. While previous missions, such as Galileo and Voyager, provided glimpses of Europa’s icy surface, this mission is unique in its sole focus on the moon’s potential habitability. Europa is thought to have a subsurface ocean beneath its thick ice shell, and scientists speculate that this environment could harbor the essential conditions for life.
The mission’s primary goal is to investigate whether Europa possesses the necessary ingredients to support life: liquid water, an energy source, and the right chemical building blocks. While Europa Clipper is not designed to detect life directly, its suite of sophisticated instruments will analyze the moon’s surface and subsurface for signs that it could be habitable.
Europa’s surface is a vast, icy expanse, but beneath it, scientists believe there lies a salty ocean with more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined. This ocean, hidden beneath kilometers of ice, has captivated researchers for decades. Europa’s ocean is kept liquid due to tidal forces exerted by Jupiter’s immense gravity, creating friction and heating beneath the surface.
Europa Clipper will investigate this hidden ocean using ice-penetrating radar, an instrument designed to map the thickness of the ice and potentially detect pockets of liquid water. Understanding the depth and composition of this ocean is key to determining whether it could support life.
Jupiter’s intense radiation presents a significant challenge to the mission. Europa orbits within one of the most hazardous radiation environments in the solar system, second only to the Sun’s radiation. Exposure to Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field could damage sensitive spacecraft electronics. To combat this, the Europa Clipper has been equipped with a specially designed vault to shield its electronics from radiation. Additionally, the spacecraft’s orbit has been carefully planned to minimize its time within Jupiter’s harsh radiation belts.
These radiation challenges have pushed NASA’s engineering teams to design cutting-edge protective technologies, ensuring that the spacecraft remains functional throughout its mission, even while enduring conditions that would be lethal to most spacecraft.
Europa Clipper boasts one of the most advanced arrays of scientific instruments ever sent to the outer solar system. These tools will allow the spacecraft to gather data on Europa’s surface composition, geology, and atmosphere during its 49 planned flybys of the moon.
One of the highlights of the Europa Clipper mission is the use of additive manufacturing (AM) to create mission-critical components. The topology-optimized bracket, 3D printed from Al6061R2 aluminum using an EOS M290 printer at JPL, represents a milestone in the application of this technology in space exploration. The bracket was designed to meet the rigorous NASA-6030 standard, ensuring its structural integrity and performance in the harsh conditions of space.
The use of 3D printing allows for the creation of complex, lightweight parts that are tailored to the specific requirements of the spacecraft, reducing weight and increasing efficiency. This breakthrough is a testament to the advances in additive manufacturing and its growing role in building the next generation of spacecraft.
After its October 2024 launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, Europa Clipper will embark on a 5½-year journey to Jupiter, covering approximately 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers). The spacecraft will make gravity-assist flybys of Mars and Earth to gain the necessary speed for its long trek to the outer solar system. In 2030, Europa Clipper will enter orbit around Jupiter and begin its detailed study of Europa.
Over the next few years, the spacecraft’s team will refine its operations and test the scientific instruments to ensure that they are functioning optimally. Each of the 49 planned flybys of Europa will provide new insights into the moon’s surface and subsurface, gradually piecing together the story of its potential for life.
