Clipper Valkyrie 5 109

The bulk of the construction of the Clipper used aluminum, and a decision was made to mold the aluminum into deep integral gull wing designs. The Fokker Sonne triple tail was used on the Valkyrie. The wing used in the Clipper was the first to use a streamlined airfoil, and it did have a large adjustable flap aft of the wing. The control system of the Clipper was a mix of Wilson and Sturtevant mechanical linkages.

Clipper Valkyrie 5 109

The left wing of the Valkyrie was an unusual design with a large blunt edge (12% of total wing area) leading to the fuselage. The wing profile started out straight and then dihedraled sharply (25 degrees) at 1/4 chord from the nose to the center of the fuselage, near the hydrogenerator. The aileron was split to the right and left of the fuselage, extending out to the wing. The engine was a Wright Cyclone 327, with a fuselage-mounted radiator mounted above it. Air flow was primarily from two inlets, located at the tip of the wing, and the fuselage.

NASA's Europa Clipper mission is a mission of discovery. The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter, observing and measuring Europa as it explores the gas giant's powerful magnetic and gravitational fields. Europa is the leading target in NASA's new $10 billion Discovery Program, which aims to launch U.S. space missions to explore the solar system. The Europa Clipper will be able to carry out Europa science observations for three years before being scheduled for a destructive impact with Jupiter in 2023.

NASA's Clipper mission will study Europa's geology and underground water flow. "The Clipper mission is the first mission to visit and study the surface of the moon Europa," said Rick Damon, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which runs JPL. "If the surface of Europa could be explored in a way that we explore Mars, we would have an answer as to whether life exists beyond Earth."