Mission Updates | August 18, 2022

Europa Clipper's High-Gain Antenna Undergoes Precision Testing at NASA Langley

Europa Clipper's large high gain antenna, which is taller than a person and is painted dark black, is hoisted on mechanical supports on a large, multi-story room that has its floor, walls, and ceiling covered in blue foam triangles to avoid interference during testing. — The high gain antenna (HGA) for the Europa Clipper recently underwent testing at the Experimental Test Range (ETR) at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. There, researchers assessed its ability to precisely beam data from the spacecraft back to Earth. The HGA is pictured here arriving in March. It spent time at the ETR in March and April, and again in June and July.

A piece of space hardware set to make the long journey to begin orbiting around a water world in the outer Solar System recently finished its second round of testing this year at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

The high-gain antenna (HGA) for NASA’s Europa Clipper, which will conduct nearly 50 flybys of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, was at Langley’s Experimental Test Range (ETR) in March and April and then again in June and July so researchers could assess its ability to precisely beam data from the spacecraft back to Earth. Between those visits to Langley, the HGA went to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for vibration and thermal vacuum testing to check its ability to withstand both the shaking of launch and the temperature extremes of space, respectively.

In this time-lapse video, the High Gain Antenna (HGA) for the Europa Clipper is visible moving into the test area of the Experimental Test Range (ETR) at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

The approximately 10-foot-diameter (3-meter-diameter) HGA will beam back information from Europa Clipper’s nine instruments, which will gather data on Europa’s atmosphere, surface, and interior.

The HGA operates on NASA deep space X-band radio frequencies of 7.2 and 8.4 GHz, and Ka-band at 32 GHz. Thirty-two GHz is many times higher than the frequency of most cellphones. That higher frequency will give Europa Clipper plenty of bandwidth to send data back at high rates. That data will take approximately 45 minutes to reach Earth from orbit around Jupiter.

The ETR is an indoor electromagnetic test facility that allows researchers to characterize transmitters, receivers, antennas, and other electromagnetic components and subsystems in a controlled environment. Though there are other facilities around the country that can accommodate similar testing, the ETR’s size, accessibility, and availability made it a perfect location for the HGA. A prototype HGA underwent testing at the ETR in 2019.