Posted by: gndonald Dec 15 2016, 01:14 PM
This spacecraft is the other design considered in late 1960s/early 1970s for solar ion powered missions to the asteroid belt (Targeted & Untargeted), Jupiter and out of the ecliptic plane (with or without a Jupiter gravity assist.) These missions were intended as technology test-beds for future manned missions using nuclear powered ion engines. Oddly the only mission type not considered for the design were missions to Mars.
All missions would have had instruments for studying particles and emissions. Jupiter missions would have added a TV camera/IR detector/UV detector/X-ray detector to this.
Atlas-Centaurs were the intended launch vehicles for the various asteroid belt missions considered, while Titan IIIc's would have been needed for the outer solar system targets.
https://app.box.com/s/ch93bcikj6pj49nkfika1ody2msmmr4k
