NASA’s Europa Clipper has successfully deployed its star trackers, capturing images of stars 150-300 light-years away during its journey to Jupiter. The spacecraft is still 1.6 billion miles from its destination and will reach Jupiter’s orbit in 2030.
The star trackers use the position of stars to determine the spacecraft’s orientation, crucial for pointing telecommunications antennas toward Earth and sending data back smoothly. The orbiter recently captured a small portion of the sky, representing only 0.1% of the full view, but this allows it to map its location and orient itself correctly.
The successful deployment of star trackers signals that the spacecraft is functioning properly after launch on October 14, 2024. Engineers previously checked the hardware’s performance by downlinking photos taken during the transit.
Europa Clipper carries nine science instruments, including a sophisticated imaging system that will study Europa’s fractures and valleys when its protective covers are opened for at least three years. The spacecraft is currently 53 million miles from Earth, moving at 17 miles per second relative to the sun. It will make 49 flybys of Europa before the mission concludes.
This achievement showcases the spacecraft’s capabilities as it heads towards Jupiter and prepares for future missions, including a gravity science investigation.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2025-02-en-route-jupiter-europa-clipper.html