CubeSat Bus for CaliPER Mission in Support of Europa Clipper

Abstract

In October of 2024, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) will launch the Europa Clipper Mission to explore and evaluate the habitability conditions of Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. The Clipper spacecraft will perform multiple flybys, each time picking up data with the Radar for Europa Assessment of Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface (REASON) array. Due to its size, REASON cannot be calibrated on Earth and must be calibrated in orbit. A Cube Satellite (CubeSat) named CaliPER (Calibration Post-Earth for REASON) was designed to calibrate REASON before Clipper undergoes its Mars gravitational assist. This spacecraft had to be housed in a bus structure. The bus was designed to mechanically interface with each of the other subsystems, including the antenna, reflectarray, solar array, propulsion, and GNC teams. In addition, the designed bus will sustain mechanical loads from launch and deployment. The bus structure was successfully designed to meet structural requirements, machined to meet CubeSat Design Standard tolerances of ± 0.1 mm, and assembled with prototypes of other subsystems.