NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft successfully tested its radar system, REASON, during a close Mars flyby. The radar, designed to peer beneath the surface of Europa, Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon, was able to transmit and receive signals from the area near Mars’ equator without any issues. The radar data collected from the flyby confirmed the hardware’s reliability and gave researchers an early opportunity to fine-tune their analytical tools before Clipper reaches Jupiter’s icy moon in 2030.
The radar system uses two pairs of slender antennas that jut out from the solar arrays, spanning a distance of about 58 feet (17.6 meters). Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California conducted all the testing that was possible prior to the spacecraft’s launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 14, 2024
As Europa Clipper zipped by the volcanic plains of the Red Planet, REASON sent and received radio waves for about 40 minutes. In comparison, at Europa, the instrument will operate as close as 16 miles (25 kilometers) from the moon’s surface.
Europa Clipper’s total journey to reach the icy moon will be about 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) and includes one more gravity assist — using Earth — in 2026. The spacecraft is currently about 280 million miles (450 million kilometers) from Earth.
