NASA Tests a Prototype Europa Lander
- Universetoday
If the belly pan does not encounter terrain during touchdown, sensors in each leg can also declare touchdown. In this case, the belly pan will be suspended above the terrain, and the Lander will be supported only by its four legs.
What was not filmed is the phase after the bridles are offloaded, which consists of the bridles being cut and the hovering propulsive stage flying away.
Although this landing architecture was developed with Europa in mind, it can be adapted for use on other moons and celestial bodies with challenging terrain.
This will come in handy as NASA and other space agencies contemplate sending missions to other “Ocean Worlds” in the Solar System that also have oceans beneath their icy crusts (and might harbor life within).
In the meantime, scientists eagerly anticipate the arrival of the ESA’s JUpiter ICy moon Explorer (JUICE) mission, launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guyana on April 14th, 2023.
When it arrives at Jupiter in July 2031, it will spend the next three and a half years of its primary mission studying Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa, the three Galilean Moons thought to have oceans in their interior.
The Europa Clipper is scheduled to launch on October 10th, 2024, and will arrive in the Jupiter system in April 2030, ahead of JUICE.
The data provided by these orbiter missions will pave the way for the Europa Lander mission, which will include surface analysis, monitoring plume activity, and the selection of landing sites and potential science objectives.
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