New vision solar system mission study. Final report

Technical Report · Fri Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/231970· OSTI ID:231970

Mondt, J F; Zubrin, R M

The vision for the future of the planetary exploration program includes the capability to deliver {open_quotes}constellations{close_quotes} or {open_quotes}fleets{close_quotes} of microspacecraft to a planetary destination. These fleets will act in a coordinated manner to gather science data from a variety of locations on or around the target body, thus providing detailed, global coverage without requiring development of a single large, complex and costly spacecraft. Such constellations of spacecraft, coupled with advanced information processing and visualization techniques and high-rate communications, could provide the basis for development of a {open_quotes}virtual{close_quotes} {open_quotes}presence{close_quotes} in the solar system. A goal could be the near real-time delivery of planetary images and video to a wide variety of users in the general public and the science community. This will be a major step in making the solar system accessible to the public and will help make solar system exploration a part of the human experience on Earth.

• Research Organization: Jet Propulsion Lab., Pasadena, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-89SF17787
• OSTI ID: 231970
• Report Number(s): JPL-D--13458; ON: DE96010188
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
66 PHYSICS
EVALUATION
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
PLANETS
SOLAR SYSTEM
SPACE PROPULSION REACTORS
SPACE VEHICLES