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Posted on behalf of: Materials Physics
Last updated: Wednesday, 14 February 2024
The Europa Clipper spacecraft inside the assembled testing chamber - photo courtesy of NASA
Dr Aline Amorim Graf of the Materials Physics group holds a prototype panel made for NASA’s Europa Clipper mission
Ahead of the launch of its Europa Clipper mission later this year, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is sharing a livestream from its Clean Room in Pasadena, California, where Clipper will be built and tested. Researchers from the University of Sussex Materials Physics group have a special reason to watch; technology developed in conjunction with Advanced Material Development Ltd at the University of Sussex enabled the design and construction of a bespoke testing chamber for the space craft’s high-gain antenna.
The Europa Clipper mission will fly close to Jupiter’s moon Europa and perform detailed measurements, using multiple tools – including radar. There is strong evidence of an ocean of liquid water beneath Europa’s icy crust and the high-gain antenna is capable of penetrating below the moon’s surface to detect reflections from the liquid under the ice; signals are then relayed to Earth from the space craft for interpretation, allowing scientists to estimate the depth of the liquid and thickness of the covering ice.
However, the antenna must first be tested on the ground, in a clean room which mimics the environment in space. Such a facility would typically include an anechoic chamber, designed to stop reflections or echoes of either sound or electromagnetic waves that might affect or distort the antenna’s readings. In response to this challenge the team collaborated in developing and supplying radar-absorbing material to create a moveable testing chamber, insulating the antenna from background and surrounding interference such that the antenna’s ability to collect and relay data could be isolated, evaluated and perfected.
The technology that the team shared with JPL is based upon its work developing inks and coatings from graphene, particularly for shielding against electromagnetic interference (EMI). Nanomaterials were integrated into foam panels which were then soaked in ink and encased in plastic to make them safe to use in a clean room environment.
Dr Matthew Large, PDRF with Materials Physics, explains: “We built prototype panels from scratch in our labs here at Sussex, experimenting with different materials to ensure that when assembled, the chamber would absorb energy from the Clipper’s antenna consistently across the entire surface. The panels needed to be rigid enough to support their own weight, but light and flexible enough to be easily configured and, if necessary, cut to shape.”
The panels also had to be sturdy enough to survive the journey to JPL at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Over a thousand panels were built, with members of the research group travelling to the AMRC in Sheffield to manufacture the panels in a facility selected for its ability to handle such a large order.
Dr Aline Amorim Graf, PDRF with Materials Physics and joint project lead, says: “Each panel had to be examined and tested to ensure a uniform saturation of ink and that the final performance met the project targets. We took all the raw materials with us to Sheffield and built the panels there, one by one. It took us a solid week, producing 200 panels per day.”
The panels were packed in Sheffield, couriered to USA and assembled in the JPL Clean Room, aligned to a supporting plastic framework – so testing of the antenna could begin. The final assembled walls were almost 8 metres tall and 7 metres wide, making the chamber similar in size to an average UK semi-detached house.
The Europa Clipper mission will be launched on 10 October 2024 and will take almost two years to travel the 628.3 million km to its destination, where it will spend four years conducting observations, with the expectation that the first data will be collected from 2030.
Professor Alan Dalton, Materials Physics PI says: “We believe that this represents a unique application for our inks, which are something of a specialism for our group. The panels we built are lightweight, portable, easily assembled and effective. They are also relatively cheap to produce, with each panel costing just a few hundred pounds. We developed the technology here at Sussex working with our main partner and funder, Advanced Material Development and came up with this solution to JPL’s specification. It’s very exciting to see how it’s now being used to support projects that are, literally, out of this world.”
Further links: Watch the livestream from the NASA JPL Clean Room ‘Building Europa Clipper’
Read about the NASA Europa Clipper mission.
Our work on nanosheet-stabilised emulsions demonstrates that 2D materials (including graphene and molybdenum disulfide) confer emulsion stability and network conductivity at volume fractions as low as 10⁻⁵. Emulsions can be deposited as inks for functional thin films which preserve droplet structure and eliminate the notorious coffee ring effect, highlighting the potential for printed single-droplet devices.
This work has been made open access, which you can read here: Nanosheet-Stabilized Emulsions: Near-Minimum Loading and Surface Energy Design of Conductive Networks
Did you know that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels in Brighton are among the highest in the UK? NO2 is an air pollutant that originates from combustion engines and industrial processes. Long-term exposure to NO2 can cause respiratory issues, which can be particularly severe and even life-threatening for babies and asthma sufferers. We have developed a laser deposited carbon aerogel gas sensor with exceptional selectivity towards NO2.
Watch the BBC South East news report below or read more about our research here: Sussex scientists develop air quality sensor that could save the lives of babies and asthma sufferers.
Using a combination of graphene and silver nanowires we have developed an optically transparent, flexible touchscreen technology, eliminating the need for glass smartphone screens. Current touchscreen technology requires rare-earth alloys which are extracted by mining, making them unsustainable and expensive. This graphene technology would significantly reduce the cost of smartphone screens while improving their durability and flexibility.
Watch the BBC South East news report below or read more about this technology here: Sussex physicists have breakthrough on brittle smartphone screens
We have developed highly sensitive breathing monitors out of a simple mixture of oil, water and graphene. These are a cheap, non-intrusive alternative to the current technology, with potential to alert parents of any change to their child’s breathing via their smartphone, potentially preventing seizures and cot death, which sadly affect hundreds of families each year.
Watch the BBC South East news report below or read more about this life-saving technology here: Potentially life-saving ‘health monitor’ technology designed by University of Sussex physicists
To usher in the next industrial revolution based on nanotechnologies, there’s a high demand for nanoscientists. As a graduate, you’ll be ready for industry roles in fields such as:
You’ll also be well equipped to take a research degree in physics, chemistry, biology or engineering.