Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-CalTech

Advanced Material Development (AMD) has been contracted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to supply radar-absorbing technology for NASA’s upcoming Europa Clipper mission.

The Europa Clipper spacecraft will perform dozens of close flybys of Jupiter’s moon Europa, gathering detailed measurements from multiple instruments, including the radar instrument, to investigate whether the moon could have conditions suitable for life.

AMD has developed a series of high-performance broadband radio frequency absorption materials that can be optimised for integration with composite matrices and foam structures, further enhancing the absorption performance. Foam panels supplied by AMD will be used by JPL during the system level electromagnetic compatibility test for the Europa Clipper spacecraft later this year.

“It is hugely exciting to take the next steps with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the Europa space programme,” said AMD’s Chief Commercial Officer, Richard Lee. “Importantly this is a major step in that AMD will now be manufacturing the product for JPL – following an initial successful testing phase. AMD sees this as major verification of the effectiveness of our solutions in the area of radar absorbance and reflection.”