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Examining the Radio Frequency Panel of NASA's Europa Clipper

March 3, 2022
An engineer inspects the radio frequency (RF) panel of NASA's Europa Clipper in a cleanroom at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.

An engineer inspects the radio frequency (RF) panel of NASA's Europa Clipper in a cleanroom at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. The RF panel hosts all the RF subsystem electronics and an intricate routing network of switches, filters, and waveguides, which carry the RF signal to and from eight antennas distributed around the spacecraft.

With an internal global ocean under a thick layer of ice, Jupiter's moon Europa may have the potential to harbor existing life. Europa Clipper will swoop around Jupiter in an elliptical orbit, dipping close to the moon on each flyby to collect data. Understanding Europa's habitability will help scientists better understand how life developed on Earth and the potential for finding life beyond our planet. Europa Clipper is set to launch in 2024.

More information about Europa and Europa Clipper can be found here: europa.nasa.gov

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