Europa clipper spacecraft configuration evolution

The Europa Clipper mission is a concept under study by a joint JPL and APL team that would conduct detailed reconnaissance of Jupiter´s moon Europa, and would investigate whether the icy moon could harbor conditions suitable for life. The mission would perform a detailed investigation of Europa using a highly capable, radiation-tolerant spacecraft that would perform repeated close flybys of the icy moon from an orbit around Jupiter. The 2011 Planetary Science Decadal Survey recommended an immediate effort to find major cost reductions for the Jupiter Europa Orbiter (JEO) concept. The Europa Clipper multipleflyby mission concept meets this challenge by NASA and the Decadal Survey by implementing a reduced scope Europa mission relative to Jupiter Europa Orbiter (JEO), suitable for satisfying the science objectives in a cost-effective, low-risk manner. This paper describes the evolution of the Europa Clipper spacecraft configuration and the major trade-offs for the conceptual mechanical design.