One big challenge was analyzing how those transistors on the spacecraft would handle the radiation environment at Jupiter," said Jordan Evans, Europa Clipper's project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). "After extensive testing and analysis of the transistors, the Europa Clipper project and I, personally, have high confidence we can complete the original mission for exploring Europa as planned.
It is wonderful to be here with incredibly good news," said Nicky Fox, associate administrator of NASA's science mission directorate. "We're all extremely happy here. Extremely hot off the press, we did just put the Europa Clipper mission through a rigorous round of evaluations...
In May, engineers raised concerns that transistors installed throughout the spacecraft might be susceptible to damage from radiation, an omnipresent threat for any probe whipping its way around Jupiter.
After four months of testing similar transistors on the ground, engineers determined the transistors on Europa Clipper could withstand the extreme radiation the spacecraft would encounter around Jupiter, without any changes to the mission's flight plan or trajectory.
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