Revolutionary concepts for Human Outer Planet Exploration (HOPE)

This paper summarizes the content of a NASA-led study performed to identify revolutionary concepts and supporting technologies for Human-Outer Planet Exploration (HOPE). Callisto, the fourth of Jupiter's Galilean moons, was chosen as the destination for the HOPE study. Assumptions for the Callisto mission include a launch year of 2045 or later, a spacecraft capable of transporting humans to and from Callisto in less, than five years, and a requirement to support, three humans on the surface for a minimum of 30 days. Analyses performed in support of HOPE include identification of precursor science and technology demonstration missions and development of vehicle concepts for transporting crew and supplies. A complete surface architecture was developed to provide the human crew with a power system, a propellant production plant, a surface habitat and supporting robotic systems: An operational concept was defined that provides a surface layout for these architecture components, a list of surface-tasks, a 30-day timeline, a daily schedule, and a plan for communication from the surface.