Europa Clipper Enters Phase B, Launch Vehicle Undecided

Jeff Foust, for SpaceNews:

Another question is what launch vehicle will be used for Europa Clipper. The Space Launch System would send the spacecraft on a direct trajectory to Jupiter, allowing it to reach the planet less than three years after launch. “We’re keeping the options open right now,” Niebur said at the OPAG meeting, noting it is also compatible with the Delta 4 Heavy and possibly other vehicles through the use of gravity assists.

“In the big view of things, it doesn’t hurt us to keep launch vehicle options open,” he said. “But the time is coming when we need to narrow that range down.”

It’s no secret that SLS is in a tumultuous place right now. Relying on its existence at this moment in time could be fatal to the mission.

It’s not just SLS that’s hard to plan on, either. We’re a few months-to-years out from the debut of some very interesting launch vehicles—Falcon Heavy, ITS, New Glenn, Vulcan-Centaur, Vulcan-ACES with distributed lift, just to name a few.

I don’t envy the people making the call on which launch vehicle to go forward with, or making the call on when that decision is appropriate. From where I sit, it’s too early to narrow the options down to only SLS.

Similarly, the lander is in a tough spot:

There is no similar choice for the proposed lander mission, which will be far heavier than Clipper given the propellant it has to carry to be able to enter orbit around and then land on the surface of Europa. “It’s about 13,000 kilograms wet,” he said. “As of now, SLS is the only vehicle with the performance to launch it.”

I’m glad that sentence was prefaced with “as of now.”