AMETEK Pacific Design Technology’s liquid cooling system is helping the Europa Clipper on its 1.8-billion-mile journey to Jupiter

CASE STUDY
Wednesday, October 23, 2024

AMETEK Pacific Design Technology’s liquid cooling system is helping the Europa Clipper on its 1.8-billion-mile journey to Jupiter

The Background

An Ambitious Exploration

The potential for life outside of our home planet is an exciting possibility. One of the most promising environments for life are planets that contain water. Experts believe that Jupiter’s moon, Europa, almost certainly has a vast ocean underneath an icy outer crust. To explore this potential, NASA has embarked on an ambitious exploratory mission – the Europa Clipper.

NASA’s Europa Clipper launched on October 14, 2024, beginning a 6-year, 1.8-billion-mile journey through space with a set arrival in Jupiter’s orbit in April 2030. Once in orbit, the Clipper will conduct 49 flybys of Europa, exploring almost the entire moon and transmitting data back to Earth about its conditions – including its icy shell and the composition of the ocean beneath it. Through this mission, NASA hopes to determine if Europa is capable of supporting life.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. Photo credit: SpaceX

The Challenge

Withstanding the Journey

The Europa Clipper is NASA’s largest planetary mission spacecraft to date, with some of the most sensitive and advanced scientific equipment on board. To prepare for this multi-year journey, NASA had to ensure that each part of the Clipper – including cameras, spectrometers, and ice-penetrating radar – is resilient enough to endure the harsh nature of space travel and Jupiter’s heavy field of radiation. To protect these sensitive instruments, NASA has encased them in “The Vault,” a section of the spacecraft encased in sheets of aluminum-zinc alloy.

To further ensure that the Europa Clipper thrived on its mission, NASA also included a state-of-the-art liquid cooling system from AMETEK Pacific Design Technologies (PDT).

Concept art depicting NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft in and around Jupiter. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Solution

Keeping it Cool

AMETEK PDT is a world-leader in liquid cooling systems for commercial, defense and space applications and a longstanding partner of NASA. Their liquid cooling system supporting the Europa Clipper consists of temperature control valves, pumps and an accumulator. This system is responsible for circulating a refrigerant to keep the sensitive electronic equipment at optimal operating temperature. PDT’s facility in Goleta, CA hosts a NASA-certified clean room where the system was subjected to numerous tests to ensure that the Europa Clipper would be equipped with the most tested and trusted hardware possible.

The temperature control of these systems is of extreme importance and is a crucial component in a successful journey to Jupiter.

Discover more at pd-tech.com.