Quantic Wenzel Frequency Synthesizer to Support NASA's Europa Clipper

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Quantic Wenzel, a business of Quantic Electronics and leader in crystal oscillators, frequency sources, and integrated microwave assemblies, has completed delivery of a space-qualified frequency synthesizer assembly for NASA's Europa Clipper Mission. Scheduled to launch next year, the spacecraft will orbit Jupiter to perform a detailed exploration of Europa, a moon that shows evidence for an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy crust and which could host conditions suitable for life.

"Our support of the Europa Clipper mission is another exciting step in our work with JPL," said Jigar Shah, Director of Business Development, Quantic Wenzel. "Wenzel is widely known as a company which RF engineers come to when they need to solve their unique frequency reference and timing challenges for space applications."

The spacecraft will survey Europa with a suite of instruments to investigate whether it has conditions suitable for life

Europa Clipper will carry instrumentation that can look directly into the moon's icy shell. It is called the Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface, or REASON. REASON will use radio waves to penetrate Europa's ice as much as 18 miles deep, and search for the moon's suspected ocean, measure ice thickness, and study the ice's internal structure, including any internal water bodies that may connect the surface and the ocean. 

Working closely with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission, Quantic Wenzel engineered and manufactured a custom, space-qualified frequency synthesizer assembly. The assembly consists of a single stable local oscillator that generates the reference frequencies for all the instrument timing signals.