NASA cites Falcon flight heritage to select SpaceX to launch Europa Clipper - NASASpaceFlight.com - NASASpaceflight.com

On Friday, July 23, NASA announced that SpaceX was the winner of a commercial procurement to launch the Europa Clipper mission, which will closely study the icy Galilean moon of Jupiter in search of signs of life and/or ongoing geological activity

SpaceX’s heavy-lift Falcon Heavy rocket, which has been flown three times since its debut in February 2018 and currently maintains a 100% launch success record, was the vehicle of choice to launch Europa Clipper

A source selection document released this week revealed that Falcon Heavy was selected over one other bidder: United Launch Alliance’s yet unflown Vulcan launch vehicle

NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) at Kennedy Space Center will handle management of Europa Clipper’s launch service

However, other vehicles would be allowed to launch Europa Clipper at NASA’s request due to a lack of available SLS core stages

In December 2020, NASA was required to use SLS to launch the Europa Clipper mission, with the stipulations that a core would be available and that torsional loading analyses confirmed that the spacecraft was safe to fly on the Block 1 Cargo vehicle

Ultimately, it was deemed that neither of the aforementioned conditions were met, and NASA thus began requesting proposals for commercial launch services for Europa Clipper

In January 2021, the mission team was formally directed to halt work on maintaining compatibility with SLS and move forward with a commercial vehicle

According to the source selection statement for the Europa Clipper launch contract, NASA initially received responses from three parties per interest in competing for the award, with two of them being SpaceX and United Launch Services (ULS), the governmental contracting subsidiary of United Launch Alliance (ULA)

SpaceX and ULS both submitted formal and timely proposals to NASA, with SpaceX offering the capabilities of their Falcon Heavy rocket and ULS bidding an unspecified configuration of the Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle, which is currently in the latter stages of development and is expected to make its debut flight no earlier than 2022

NASA assigned SpaceX one strength and nine weaknesses in their Europa Clipper contract proposal, with no significant strengths nor significant weaknesses identified

United Launch Services’ Vulcan Centaur rocket was ultimately not selected to launch Europa Clipper

The company’s proposal was considered on account of a “Good” management rating and their past contract performance, such that NASA gave them a “High Level of Confidence” rating for the Europa Clipper award

Overall, NASA assigned United Launch Services one deficiency, four significant weaknesses, and twelve other weaknesses, with no strengths (significant or otherwise) being identified

These included an unviable certification schedule, an uncertainty in launch vehicle performance capability, and an inability to achieve the first flight of the vehicle block upgrade required to launch Europa Clipper prior to October 2023 – a deficiency that NASA noted was “a material failure of the proposal to meet a critical risk reduction requirement.”

Bid pricing for the contract was also a factor, as ULS’ total evaluated cost to launch the Europa Clipper mission was “substantially higher” than SpaceX’s, who won with a total proposed price of $178,322,196

Once in orbit around Jupiter, Europa Clipper will begin its four year science mission that will see the spacecraft perform up to 44 close flybys of the moon, in order to gather large amounts of data on Europa’s surface, subsurface oceans, and interior

NASA is also investigating the possibility of using Europa Clipper for detailed reconnaissance to aid in the selection of a landing site for a future Europa lander, which was an add-on component of the Clipper mission until 2017

However, not much is known regarding NASA’s current plans to launch a lander as a complement to Europa Clipper’s mission operations

The acquisition of the Europa Clipper launch contract is the latest addition to a growing manifest of missions for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy

This mission, designated USSF-44, will be a classified launch for the United States Space Force