Thomas Richard Spilker

NEPTranS; A Shuttle‐Tended NEP Interplanetary Transportation System

Recently, a study was performed by a team from JPL and the DOE to develop a mission architecture for a reusable NEP Interplanetary Transfer Vehicle, a “Space Truck”. This vehicle is designed to be used for delivery of payloads from Earth to a variety of destinations, including Mars and Venus, dependent on mission needs. In addition to delivering payloads to the target bodies, the vehicle is designed to perform autonomous rendezvous and capture of sample return capsules at the destination for return to Earth. In order to maximize the utility of the vehicle, its design is optimized for servicing between missions with the Space Shuttle. Fuel tanks, ion thrusters, and Power Management and Distribution electronics are all on‐orbit replaceable units, located at the payload interface end of the spacecraft to ensure a minimal radiation dose to the Shuttle and crew during maintenance and resupply operations. Operational flexibility is maximized through the use of replaceable fuel tanks and thrusters, allowing tailoring of fuel load to any given destination and payload mass. This paper discusses the preliminary design developed for the NEP Interplanetary Transfer Vehicle, including its configuration and design features, and outlines the concept for mission design, including discussion of unique requirements for launch, deployment and operations with the Space Shuttle, and rendezvous and servicing by the Shuttle in Earth orbit following a return from each target destination.Recently, a study was performed by a team from JPL and the DOE to develop a mission architecture for a reusable NEP Interplanetary Transfer Vehicle, a “Space Truck”. This vehicle is designed to be used for delivery of payloads from Earth to a variety of destinations, including Mars and Venus, dependent on mission needs. In addition to delivering payloads to the target bodies, the vehicle is designed to perform autonomous rendezvous and capture of sample return capsules at the destination for return to Earth. In order to maximize the utility of the vehicle, its design is optimized for servicing between missions with the Space Shuttle. Fuel tanks, ion thrusters, and Power Management and Distribution electronics are all on‐orbit replaceable units, located at the payload interface end of the spacecraft to ensure a minimal radiation dose to the Shuttle and crew during maintenance and resupply operations. Operational flexibility is maximized through the use of replaceable fuel tanks and thrusters, allowing tail...

Mixing moons and atmospheric entry probes: challenges and limitations of a multi-objective science mission to Jupiter

Current advanced mission concepts to explore the Jovian system target either Jupiter or its satellites.

The "Billion Dollar Box" Study of Science Missions to Saturnian Satellites

Cassini/Huygens (C/H) mission investigations verify Saturnian satellites Titan and Enceladus as objects of intense interest to planetary scientists and astrobiologists. Recently NASA commissioned a study of potential relatively low-cost missions to these icy satellites, led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) with science and engineering teams from prominent universities, FFRDCs, and NASA centers. NASA was interested in determining whether there are scientifically viable missions to Titan or Enceladus within the constraints of a (possibly slightly expanded) New Frontiers mission. The C/H missions extremely capable instrumentation and thorough investigation of the Saturn system make that a difficult, though not obviously impossible, task. Any such mission must exceed C/H capabilities (in, for instance, imaging coverage or resolution, or range of constituents identifiable) to be scientifically worthwhile. Beginning in October 2006 these teams assessed science objectives for the two destinations and surveyed architectural options for implementing worthwhile subsets of the global lists of science objectives, attempting to find mission concepts both scientifically justifiable and within New Frontiers constraints. These studies were completed in early 2007 and the somewhat surprising results, that there appear to be no such missions, reported to NASA. This presentation gives the results of the studies and examines interesting individual missions.