This is the future! NASA’s Europa Clipper mission! The mission is to determine if this distant moon has conditions favorable for life. Dicronite Southwest has helped this mission by applying its precision Dicronite dry lubrication coating on many of its mechanical parts on the Europa Clipper.
“The animation reveals how the Europa Clipper space craft’s own magnetic sources distort the ambient magnetic field near Europa, which the Europa Clipper Magnetometer seeks to measure. In addition to quantitative assessments of the magnetic field contributions from individual sources onboard the spacecraft, the science team will carry out regular calibrations while in orbit around Jupiter by performing spacecraft rolls. Moreover, the magnetic field will be measured by three sensors mounted at different distances from the spacecraft along the boom, to reduce these sources of error. These calibrations will help the Europa Clipper Magnetometer team determine the properties of Europa’s ocean.” (NASA)
Because Jupiter’s ice-covered moon, Europa, is in a harsh environment such as the vacuum of space. These parts needed a coating that can provide friction and wear reduction, anti-seize / anti-galling / anti-fretting, and a wide functional temperature span – 188C to +538C (up to +1316C in a vacuum). We are happy to have worked on this project and are excited to learn if this distant moon has conditions favorable for life!