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Europa Clipper's Nadir Deck

A person wearing a white gown and hairnet uses a small cloth to wipe the surface of a piece of spaceflight hardware about the size and shape of a coffee table.
Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Published: May 17, 2022

In a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, a worker cleans part of Europa Clipper's nadir deck, which will stabilize the spacecraft's sensors and helps ensure the science instruments are oriented correctly.

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Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) Staff Engineer Yvette Tyler performs integration and testing on the electronics box for Europa Clipper’s mass spectrometer.
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Image showing Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) Staff Engineer Yvette Tyler performs integration and testing on the electronics box for Europa Clipper’s mass spectrometer. The mass spectrometer will analyze gases in Europa’s faint atmosphere and possible plumes. It will study the chemistry of the moon’s suspected subsurface ocean, how ocean and surface exchange material, and how radiation alters compounds on the moon’s surface.
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An engineering model of the focal plane module for Europa Clipper’s E-THEMIS instrument. 
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Engineers stand surrounding Europa Clipper’s narrow-angle camera.
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Twelve engineers and technicians dressed in white protective “bunny suits” stand behind and beside to Europa Clipper’s narrow-angle camera (NAC). The NAC is on a platform with rods sticking straight up at the corners of the platform. It’s wrapped in silver-colored insulating material, it has a round base about the size of a tire. The lens is sticking out at an angle and is laced up inside the insulating material. Yellow tape on the floor marks the area around NAC. Equipment and gear sits on tables behind, and to the sides of the workers.
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This animation segment shows NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft leaving Earth. 
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Europa Clipper's ultraviolet spectrograph in a cleanroom at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
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Europa Clipper's ultraviolet spectrograph in a cleanroom at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
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Europa Clipper's ultraviolet spectrograph is delivered to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
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Europa Clipper's ultraviolet spectrograph is delivered to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
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Engineers stand next to Europa Clipper's wide-angle camera in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, following its delivery in June 2022. 
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Eleven engineers wearing full white coveralls and masks stand around a metallic table in a clean room. Europa Clipper's wide-angle camera rests on the metallic table. Several engineers are giving a thumbs up hand gesture, indicating that the instrument has successfully undergone functional tests following its delivery to JPL.
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Europa Clipper's ultraviolet spectrograph in a cleanroom at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
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Europa Clipper's ultraviolet spectrograph in a cleanroom at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
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Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)’s Dan Aaron (lead spectrometer technician) is making final adjustments to the electrical connections between the MAss Spectrometer for Planetary EXploration/Euro...
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Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)’s Dan Aaron (lead spectrometer technician) is making final adjustments to the electrical connections between the MAss Spectrometer for Planetary EXploration/Europa (MASPEX) EBox and the spectrometer prior to flight model calibration.
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Dark, irregular features on Jupiter's moon Europa.
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Two engineers at a computer.
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Two major pieces of hardware – Europa Clipper’s vault, with the nadir deck attached – are prepared for a move to the High Bay 1 clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsi...
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Two major pieces of flight hardware for the Europa Clipper spacecraft are attached to a flotron machine in a cleanroom. The hardware is visible in the rear middle of the images. The flotron is a large structure that allows the hardware to be rotated and moved for assembly purposes. The flight hardware consists of a large aluminum vault, which is shaped like a box. Within the vault, sensitive electronics will live, protecting them from radiation in Jupiter's environment. Attached the vault is a metal deck, called the nadir deck. Attached to this metal deck are multiple instrument sensors and cameras, which will allow the spacecraft to conduct science. Four engineers in full body coveralls and masks are seen working on flotron. An American flag is visible in the top left of the image.
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A view of the outward-facing side of the Europa Clipper vault plate.
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An image of the Europa Clipper vault plate, highlighted from the upper left corner casting shadows that emphasize engraved waveforms emanating from a central point symbolizing the word 'water' in multiple languages. The waveforms present as audio frequency waves. The vault plate is metal silver and the engravings are black, set against a black background.
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