Verification and Validation of the Europa Clipper Launch Phase and Autonomous Behavior

The Europa Clipper mission, NASA’s most recentflagship mission and part of the Ocean Worlds ExplorationProgram, will explore Jupiter’s moon Europa, one of the mostpromising places in our solar system to search for signs of life.Europa is believed to harbor a vast subsurface ocean beneath itsicy crust, and the Clipper spacecraft will conduct nearly 50flybys to study the moon’s surface, interior, and potentialhabitability.Clipper started its journey to the Jovian system on Oct 14, 2024,launching from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon Heavyrocket. A few short hours after liftoff, the spacecraft separatedfrom the launch vehicle and began a series of autonomousactions via a complex software behavior intended to establish acapable spacecraft ready to receive commands from the ground.This behavior needed to accomplish mission critical actions suchas deploying the solar arrays while also detecting andresponding to a myriad of potential issues, known and unknown.To ensure success, the Launch Phase test program includedtesting the interfaces to a new launch vehicle system, detailedflight system and subsystem verification and validation testing,and testing of the ground system and operations team. The testand analysis scope, venues, and processes utilized are discussedin detail as well as overall lessons learned and conclusions.