Europa Clipper Mission: Road from System Integration Review to Launch

icy moon Europa is a prime target in ourexploration of potentially habitable worlds beyond Earth. Thecombination of a subsurface liquid water layer in contact with arocky seafloor may yield an ocean rich in the elements and energyneeded for the emergence of life, and for potentially sustaining lifethrough time. Europa may hold the clues to one of NASA’s longstandingquests – to determine whether or not we are alone in theuniverse. The Europa Clipper mission will characterize Europa’shabitability as the first step in the search for potential life at theJovian moon by conducting approximately four dozen flybys.While the Clipper project is entering into the heart of its testingand validation program, some critical updates have been in workto ensure mission success. This paper will summarize changes tothe mission plan and science measurement requirements from themission’s System Integration Review (SIR) baseline. It will outlinethe Verification and Validation (V&V) approach and how keytechnical challenges like power management in the presence ofextreme changes in temperature and illumination, and sciencerobustness in the presence of spacecraft and instrument faults andcyber-security are being addressed.Since SIR, Europa Clipper's Propulsion Module has arrived atJPL along with the Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding(PIMS), Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Europa-UVS),Europa Thermal Emission Imaging System (E-THEMIS).Europa Imaging System (EIS) Wide Angle Camera (WAC),Surface Dust Analyzer (SUDA) and boxes from the GNC,Avionics, Propulsion, Power and Thermal subsystems. Somescience requirements have been relaxed while the mission planhas been updated to improve robustness and increase the numberof data collection opportunities per flyby. Gaining confidence thatsuch a large, complex spacecraft will operate as intended in theextreme temperature and radiation environments is accomplishedthrough a combination of piecewise system level testing, andmodeling where testing is not possible. Solar array powermanagement in the presence of extreme temperature variation,from the inner solar system to seeing first light after the cold soaksof up to nine-hour Jupiter eclipses, has been improved to addressthe dynamic current-voltage (IV) curve behavior. Probabilisticrisk assessments are regularly used to understand how changes inscience observation schedule, science measurement requirements,and expected frequency of interruptions due to radiation and othercauses affect robustness of the mission as a whole to achieve itsintended science. In the cyber-security realm, increasing threatsand vulnerability concerns have necessitated higher levels ofprotective actions by sponsoring agencies and projects. TheClipper project has implemented new cybersecurity requirementsfrom NASA and other government agencies to protect projectassets, and has been actively engaged with institutional efforts tostandardize the set of responses and controls which projects willutilize in the future.