NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., selected
Northrop Grumman Space Technology, Redondo Beach, Calif., as the
contractor for co-designing the proposed Prometheus Jupiter Icy Moons
Orbiter (JIMO) spacecraft. The contract award is for approximately
$400 million, covering work through mid-2008.
The Prometheus JIMO mission is an ambitious mission to orbit and
explore three planet-sized moons, Callisto, Ganymede and Europa, of
Jupiter. The moons may have vast oceans beneath their icy surfaces. A
nuclear reactor would enable the mission, which would launch in the
next decade.
JIMO would be the first NASA mission using nuclear electric
propulsion, which would enable the spacecraft to orbit each icy world
to perform extensive investigations of their composition, history, and
potential for sustaining life.
The JIMO mission, integrated with the Vision for Space Exploration,
also develops and demonstrates technologies and capabilities in direct
support to implement the Vision, including space nuclear electric
power systems and nuclear electric propulsion systems.
“We have assembled an exceptional team of professionals to take us
into the next phase of the mission. To see the mission evolve is
rewarding, and I am confident a good team is in place to move us
forward,” said John Casani, project manager for the JIMO mission at
JPL.
Under the contract, Northrop Grumman will work with a government team
to complete the preliminary design for the spacecraft. The work
includes developing hardware, software and test activities for the
design of the non-nuclear portion of the spacecraft. It also includes
developing the interfaces for the spacecraft, space reactor, and
science instruments. The contractor is responsible for the integration
of government-owned and provided technologies into the spacecraft.
They are also responsible for assembly, integration, and testing of
the space system in accordance with applicable government
requirements.
The government team will co-design the spacecraft with the contractor.
NASA will supply the launch vehicle. The Department of Energy’s Office
of Naval Reactors, Washington, will own and be responsible for the
space reactor.
The government team includes JPL, NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett
Field, Calif.; Glenn Research Center, Cleveland; Kennedy Space Center,
Fla.; Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.; and Marshall Space Flight
Center, Huntsville, Ala. Also the Office of Naval Reactors, which
includes Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, Schenectady, N.Y.; Bettis
Laboratory, Pittsburgh; and supporting Department of Energy national
laboratories.
The mission instruments will be procured competitively via a NASA
Announcement of Opportunity. Three crosscutting themes, identified by
a NASA-chartered science definition team, drive the proposed JIMO
investigations.
The themes are: evaluate the degree subsurface oceans are present on
these moons; study the chemical composition of the moons, including
organic materials, and the surface processes that affect them; and
scrutinize the entire Jupiter system, particularly the interactions
between Jupiter, the moons’ atmospheres and interiors.
JIMO is managed by JPL and is part of NASA’s Prometheus Program, a
program studying a series of initiatives to develop power systems and
technologies for space exploration in support of the Vision for Space
Exploration.
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the
proposed JIMO mission for NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission
Directorate, Washington.
For more information about the mission or NASA, visit:
http://spacescience.nasa.gov/missions/prometheus.htm
