Mass. professor has key role in NASA mission to Jupiter moon
A Massachusetts geology professor is playing a key role in NASA's $5.2 billion Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter. "So we're orbiting Jupiter and we've designed it so that we are flying past Europa 49 times, very very close by. Part of the reason for that is there is incredibly intense radiation right near the surface of Europa, trapped around Jupiter. That makes it very difficult to have a spacecraft stay near Europa for very long because the computer will get fried. Our mission is designed to spend a small amount of time near Europa taking data. It goes way out, far away from the deadly radiation belts, processes the data, sends it back to Earth and then comes back in for another swoop."
