NASA vision of the spacecraft and base for a human mission to Callisto

[bobbymike]

http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/03/nasa-vision-of-spacecraft-and-base-for.html

NASA examined revolutionary aerospace systems concepts for human space exploration of the solar system beyond Mars orbit and identified critical technology requirements for the realization of these systems concepts.

Due to its distance from Jupiter's powerful radiation belt, Callisto is subject to only 0.01 rem a day. When NASA carried out a study called HOPE (Revolutionary Concepts for Human Outer Planet Exploration) regarding the future exploration of the Solar System, the target chosen was Callisto. It could be possible to build a surface base that would produce fuel for further exploration of the Solar System. Callisto has long been considered the most suitable place for a human base for future exploration of the Jovian system.

- Callisto is the fourth moon of Jupiter: mostly outside of radiation belts
- About the size of the planet Mercury, surface at 1/8 G
- Most heavily cratered place in the solar system
- Covered with ice and asteroid dust

 

[blackstar]

That study dates from around 2000 or 2001. They actually did several variants of it. It's rather neat.

Now it's pretty far out there. It's not really a proposal. It's more of a thought project. And when the article says that "NASA" did this, keep in mind that NASA is a big organization and this was actually only a few people working at one of the centers. It was not the entire agency looking at this type of mission.