JOVE - Jupiter Orbiter (1967) |
JOVE - Jupiter Orbiter (1967) |
May 20 2010, 02:11 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 212 Joined: 19-July 05 Member No.: 442 |
With Juno approaching it's launch year, I thought it might be worthwhile to look at an earlier design for a Jupiter Polar Orbiter.
JOVE (Jupiter Orbiting Vehicle for Exploration) was designed by faculty of the University of Auburn (Alabama) in the mid-late 1960s as part of a NASA sponsored systems engineering course. The proposed spacecraft was a 3.6 metric tonne orbiter that would have been launched by a Saturn V sometime between 1975-1980. After a voyage lasting between 800 to 900 days the spacecraft would be inserted into an elliptical polar orbit of Jupiter with a closest approach of no lower than 7 Jupiter radii, after an initial period of mesurement this would be reduced to no lower than 4 Jupiter radii. To meet the mission objectives of measuring the planets temperature and geomagnetic properties, the spacecraft would carry the following instrument types: 1. Solar Wind/Flare detectors 2. Cosmic Ray detectors 3. Micrometeorite detectors 4. Magnetometers 5. Trapped radiation detectors 6. Radiometers & photometers 7. UV/Visible/IR Spectrographs 8. Wide (10º) & Narrow (1º) angle television cameras. (Resolution at 7 Jupiter Radii Wide angle (150km), Narrow Angle (35km), at 4 Jupiter Radii. 70km & 18km respectively.) Power was to be supplyed by eight RTGs supplying a total of 640w. Perhaps of interest to the discussion on the value of cameras on Juno is this quote from the JOVE report: QUOTE The use of television greatly increases the data storage problem but this is justified by the greater resolution that is obtainable over Earth-based telescopes, as well as the favorable public relations effect of "pictures" of Jupiter. Something I feel is as valid now as it was back then. See: JOVE, Jupiter orbiting vehicle for exploration. Volume 1 - Mission and system study, Final report (15.1mb) |
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May 20 2010, 07:06 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 220 Joined: 13-October 05 Member No.: 528 |
Good stuff! I remember reading a lot of different studies over the years, but I don't remember this one.
A couple interesting chuckles (with the benefit of 40 years of follow on history). Gotta love the idea of using a Saturn V launch vehicle, an amazingly expensive booster. The original Viking studies (possibly when it was still called Voyager) also used that idea if memory serves. I find it interesting that the notion of adding a camera was ever controversial. I think the Jupiter Pioneers added the "cameras" (or photometers, or whatever) under a similar public outreach idea. Forty years later they still had to be convinced to add a camera to Juno for a similar reason, as if taking medium resolution images of the polar regions of Jupiter is only good for public relations. I gotta think there are a lot of atmospheric sciences people who are really looking forward to those pictures. On a similar note, I remember reading that it was a debate to include a camera on the Mercury Mariner 10 mission! Someone in the chain of command (on the science side) didn't think that imaging was class one science! Now, I can see the argument that a mission like Juno or Pioneer Jupiter has most of the focus on particle and fields studies, gravity measurments, and such, and that the study of cloud tops is secondary.... but forgoing a camera on a Mercury mission????? A solid body never before seen close up, and the topography is just not that important..... sure, OK, whatever. |
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May 21 2010, 12:12 AM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 212 Joined: 19-July 05 Member No.: 442 |
Good stuff! I remember reading a lot of different studies over the years, but I don't remember this one. A couple interesting chuckles (with the benefit of 40 years of follow on history). Gotta love the idea of using a Saturn V launch vehicle, an amazingly expensive booster. The original Viking studies (possibly when it was still called Voyager) also used that idea if memory serves. Rather ironically (from the point of view of the name) JOVE started out as an attempt to adapt Voyager (Mars) to a Jupiter mission. I find it interesting that the notion of adding a camera was ever controversial. I think the Jupiter Pioneers added the "cameras" (or photometers, or whatever) under a similar public outreach idea. Forty years later they still had to be convinced to add a camera to Juno for a similar reason, as if taking medium resolution images of the polar regions of Jupiter is only good for public relations. I gotta think there are a lot of atmospheric sciences people who are really looking forward to those pictures. I have no doubt of that, but the part of the paragraph I didn't quote (pg 125 of the pdf) specifically indicates that the cameras were there for the atmosphere specialists and implies that the discussion was more on what type of camera to send. On a similar note, I remember reading that it was a debate to include a camera on the Mercury Mariner 10 mission! Someone in the chain of command (on the science side) didn't think that imaging was class one science! Now, I can see the argument that a mission like Juno or Pioneer Jupiter has most of the focus on particle and fields studies, gravity measurments, and such, and that the study of cloud tops is secondary.... but forgoing a camera on a Mercury mission????? A solid body never before seen close up, and the topography is just not that important..... sure, OK, whatever. Actually that is where the JOVE report gets interesting, there is a total focus on Jupiter, the moons only get a look in as something the probe might hit after it shuts down (Planetary protection back then was very different, they were more worried about the probe impacting the Jovian atmosphere than hitting the moons.), as the quote below from page 127 of the PDF shows. QUOTE Resolution on the order of 60-70 kilometers will allow observation of some structure in the red spot, boundaries between the latitude bands, and behavior of the general circulation around the edges of the red spot. The TV cameras will also get information regarding the meteorology of the outer Jovian atmosphere. On the dark side of the planet, the TV experiment will show lightning flashes and near the limb aurora effects will be shown expecially(sic) within 10º - 30º of the magnetic poles. But then with the cameras planned for JOVE taking 45 images an orbit between them (4 Wide Angle/41 Narrow Angle), and then sending them immediately back to Earth, they had to focus on something. |
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