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Europa Clipper Gets Its High-Gain On

Workers in white protective clothing stand on a platform with the Europa Clipper's high gain antenna. The antenna is being lifted by a crane.
Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Published: September 6, 2023
Historical Date: August 14, 2023

Engineers and technicians use a crane to lift a 10-foot (3-meter) high-gain antenna as they prepare to install it on NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft on Aug. 14, 2023. The orbiter is being assembled in the clean room of High Bay 1 at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The precision-engineered dish was attached to the spacecraft in carefully choreographed stages over the course of several hours. Europa Clipper will need the huge antenna to transmit data hundreds of millions of miles back to Earth.

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