NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has awarded a
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] team one of three $6 million concept design
study contracts for the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO). JIMO would be the
first outer planets mission to fly under NASA’s Project Prometheus Program.

Project Prometheus was established in 2003 as part of NASA’s Nuclear
Systems Initiative to develop technology and conduct advanced studies for
space nuclear power and electric propulsion, for the peaceful exploration of
the solar system. NASA’s Office of Space Science’s Nuclear Systems
Initiative is planning to develop radioisotope space electric power sources
for use where solar energy is too weak, as well as the new fission reactor
power sources for much higher power requirements. Project Prometheus would
demonstrate that a reactor could be operated safely and reliably in space
for use by propulsion and other spacecraft systems to explore the solar
system and return science that is otherwise unachievable.

“We’re extremely pleased to be participating in the JIMO program,” said Jim
Crocker, Lockheed Martin Space Systems vice president of civil space. “We
believe that our long heritage implementing NASA deep space missions, and
our leadership in the technologies that make them possible, will serve us
well in moving this very exciting mission from the drawing board into
space.”

The Lockheed Martin team brings decades of experience from across the
country to the JIMO program, including it’s leading role in NASA’s deep
space science missions, leading the SP-100 space reactor development
program, and being the only supplier of space radioisotope power conversion
systems to NASA for more than 25 years.

The design studies will evaluate many different technologies for the
reactor, power conversion, electric propulsion, and other aspects of the
JIMO spacecraft and follow-on missions. Once the technologies are selected,
the studies will prepare conceptual design and development planning for the
JIMO mission. NASA is planning to select an industry prime contractor in the
August 2004 timeframe to develop, launch and operate the spacecraft.

The abundant power available from the reactor would drive an electric
propulsion system on JIMO, which is required to achieve the mission science
objectives of orbiting the three icy moons of Jupiter — Callisto, Ganymede,
and Europa. NASA’s previous mission designs to Jupiter’s moons required
gravity assists from planets, severe constraints of spacecraft and
instrument power, and limited exploration of the moons during flybys. JIMO
would maintain maximum flexibility in its launch opportunities, would
observe each of the moons for long periods then move to the next, and would
make unprecedented electrical power available to its instrument suite.

To explore the universe and search for life is central to the mission of
NASA. Jupiter’s large icy moons appear to have three ingredients considered
essential for life: water, energy, and the necessary chemical elements. As
such, the JIMO mission has three top-level science goals:

1. Evaluate the potential for sustaining life on these moons. This would
include determining whether the moons do indeed have subsurface oceans;
mapping where organic compounds and other chemicals of biological interest
lie on the surface; and determining the thicknesses of ice layers, with
emphasis on locating potential future landing sites.

2. Investigate the origin and evolution of these moons. This would include
determining their interior structures, surface features and surface
compositions in order to interpret their evolutionary histories (geology,
geochemistry, geophysics) and how this illuminates the understanding of the
origin and evolution of the Earth.

3. Determine the radiation environments around these moons and the rates at
which the moons are weathered by material hitting their surfaces. Callisto,
Ganymede and Europa all orbit within the powerful magnetic environment that
surrounds Jupiter. They display varying effects from the natural radiation,
charged particles and dust within this environment. Understanding this
environment has implications for understanding whether life could have
arisen on these distant moons.

NASA will choose the final suite of scientific instruments that would carry
out the JIMO mission objectives through a competitive process open to
proposals from scientists worldwide. Two highly probable ones are a radar
instrument for mapping the thickness of surface ice and a laser instrument
for mapping surface elevations. Others would likely include a camera, an
infrared imager, a magnetometer, and instruments to study charged particles,
atoms and dust that the spacecraft encounters near each moon. A generous
electrical power supply available from the onboard nuclear system could run
higher-powered instruments than have flown on other spacecraft and would
boost the data-transmission rate back to Earth.

To allow sufficient development and ground-testing time, the JIMO mission is
not proposed for launch before the year 2011. A heavy lift expendable launch
vehicle would lift the spacecraft into high Earth orbit. The ion-propulsion
thrusters would spiral the spacecraft away from Earth and then on its trip
to Jupiter. After entering orbit around Jupiter, the spacecraft would then
orbit Callisto, then Ganymede, and finally Europa. The intensity of the
radiation belts at Europa limits how long a spacecraft’s electronics are
able to operate in orbit around Europa, even with advances in
radiation-resistant electronics that would be used on this mission. The
instruments onboard the spacecraft would take uniform measurements, using
the same complement of instruments, of all three moons. Special attention
would be paid to identifying high-potential future landing sites.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company is one of the major operating units of
Lockheed Martin Corporation. Space Systems designs, develops, tests,
manufactures, and operates a variety of advanced technology systems for
military, civil and commercial customers. Chief products include a
full-range of space launch systems, including heavy-lift capability, ground
systems, remote sensing and communications satellites for commercial and
government customers, advanced space observatories and interplanetary
spacecraft, fleet ballistic missiles and missile defense systems.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global enterprise
principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, and
integration of advanced-technology systems, products, and services. The
Corporation’s core businesses are systems integration, space, aeronautics,
and technology services. Employing about 125,000 people worldwide, Lockheed
Martin had 2002 sales surpassing $26.6 billion.