Johns Hopkins APL Delivers “Backbone“ of NASA’s Europa Clipper

After years of design and construction, two cross-country trips and thousands of hours of labor, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory has delivered NASA’s Europa Clipper propulsion module — the spacecraft’s “workhorse“ — and its radio frequency module to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for integration with the remainder of the spacecraft. At about 10 feet (3 meters) tall and 5 feet (1.5 meters) in diameter, Europa Clipper’s propulsion module comprises about two-thirds of the spacecraft’s main body. It’s effectively the backbone, carrying its own electronics system and thermal control, and anchoring the spacecraft’s telecommunications subsystem. The completed structure was shipped May 31 from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to JPL, marking a major milestone for the team developing the largest spacecraft ever for a NASA planetary mission.