AAE Special Seminar with Stefano Campagnola

Tuesday, August 25^th 10:30am-11:30am MSEE B012

Surviving Jupiter:

A Reduced-Radiation Alternative Tour for the Europa Clipper Mission

Abstract: Shortly before the launch of NASA's Europa Clipper mission, unexpected vulnerabilities in the spacecraft's MOSFET components prompted an urgent investigation into radiation mitigation strategies. This paper details a rapid, contingency tour redesign that successfully accommodated all Level 1 science requirements while achieving a 30% reduction in Total Ionizing Dose (TID) compared to the baseline 21F31 reference tour.  Although this reduced-radiation tour was ultimately not adopted—as other operational mitigations proved sufficient to guarantee mission success—it serves as a compelling case study in agile astrodynamics and contingency design, demonstrating how to quickly translate complex science requirements into safe, resource-minimal trajectories when faced with late-stage hardware anomalies.

Bio: Stefano Campagnola is mission designer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and orbital mechanics instructor at Caltech. He has worked at ESA/ESOC and JAXA/ISAS for a decade prior to moving to JPL in 2016. He was mission design manager for Europa Clipper and contributed to the trajectory design of BepiColombo, JUICE (ESA);  MMX, Destiny, EQUULEUS (JAXA); Europa Clipper, Lunar Trailblazer, Lunar Flashlight (NASA); among other missions. His research interests include space mission design, optimal control, astrodynamics,  and  non-linear dynamical systems.