NASA published the first picture of the starry sky obtained by the cameras of the Europa Clipper interplanetary station. This is a technical photograph for the exact ignorance of the radio antennas of the Earth station and these are usually not published. For this picture, an exception has been made – it clearly confirms the working condition of many components of the on -board equipment of the station.
Artistic representation of the station Europa Clipper. Image source: NASA
The Europa Clipper station was launched into space on October 14, 2024. She should fly to the Jupiter system in 2030, and a year after that she will begin close rapprochement with Europe – one of the Moon Jupiter. At the moment, the station flew 85 million km and fly another 2.6 billion km.
Immediately after the launch, checks of on -board equipment began. Step by step, the NASA team included and checked the operation of certain EUROPA Clipper units. For example, a month after the start of the flight, the station put forward long antennas of radar, and straightened the solar panels.
Installation to the station of the orientation system for stars (lenses are closed with red caps)
Soon, at one of the following stages, the station checked the operation of the orientation system for stars. This happened in January 2025. The resulting picture does not shine with details – there are only four stars on it, but their location in the picture allows you to accurately orient the on -board coherent and scientific equipment: to send antennas for communication with the Earth to our planet, and scientific devices are brought to scientific purposes, one of which at one time The Jupiterian moon will become. The station tracking system covers only 0.1 % of the starry sky around, but for the exact attachment this is quite enough.
The very first picture (four bright stars are indicated by dots)
By the way, very soon an exciting ability to check the operation of a number of station devices on Mars and one of its satellites will present. Now the station is going to the Red Planet, where on March 1, 2025 he will make a gravitational maneuver in order to increase its own speed. But this will be another story.