Lockheed Martin says it has been awarded one of the $6 million design study contracts for NASA's proposed Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO), the first outer planets mission for the NASA Nuclear Systems Initiative Project Prometheus, to power an electric propulsion system.
The studies will evaluate different technologies for the reactor, power conversion and electric propulsion. Once the technologies are selected, the studies will help prepare conceptual design and development planning for the JIMO mission, for which NASA is expected to select a prime contractor in August 2004. Launch would be before 2010 and ion proplusion systems would propel the craft from Earth parking orbit. JIMO will explore three Jovian moon, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.
Source: Flight Daily News
