Europa Clipper Power Subsystem Implementation and Lessons Learned

The Europa Clipper Mission presents a unique set of challenges for a power subsystem due to the combination of the following: the use of solar power for an outer planets mission, the Jovian radiation environment, a dynamic and intense science campaign, and a suite of scientific instruments that are sensitive to electromagnetic interference. To develop a robust power system capable of satisfying all mission requirements, both the external environmental factors as well as the internally motivated mission factors needed to be well understood. A cross-functional, multi-level team of system engineers and electronics designers were required to properly decompose top level mission requirements into assembly and slice level requirements. Navigating this complex set of challenges proved to be a non-linear course, as the mission, flight system, payloads, and power subsystem were developed in parallel. This resulted in relatively late design changes in the power subsystem. The final, updated, design has passed functional testing and been verified to robustly satisfy the mission requirements. Numerous lessons learned were accrued on the way to this final implementation.