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JIMO UPDATE
From the Lunar and Planetary Institute 9 March 2004 Recently the Science Definition Team (SDT) for the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) mission submitted their final report to NASA. This report is available on the JIMO website at http://ossim.hq.nasa.gov/jimo. The report describes the SDT's science recommendations for the proposed mission. The SDT was chartered by NASA in February 2003 immediately after the JIMO mission was announced. The primary responsibility of the SDT has been to provide guidance to NASA that can be used to optimize the scientific return from the JIMO mission within programmatic constraints. The SDT was also charged with ensuring that this guidance reflects the current state of understanding of the Jupiter system and the needs of the science community. The SDT met these responsibilities by composing a prioritized set of science objectives, investigations, and measurements for the mission. In addition, the SDT and the JIMO Project Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory worked closely together to begin deriving the requirements necessary to ensure that the spacecraft and mission design can accomplish these recommendations. These requirements form the Payload Accommodation Envelope, and it is also described in the SDT Report. The proposed JIMO mission will enable a new class of scientific instruments never before possible on a planetary mission. These high capability instruments will utilize the unique aspects of the JIMO mission to accomplish the defined scientific objectives. NASA commissioned a study by the Aerospace Corporation on this new class of instruments in Spring 2003. The results of this study are contained in the High Capability Instrument Feasibility Study Final Report and are also available on the website. The Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter is one of the most ambitious robotic missions NASA has ever undertaken. NASA recognizes input from the scientific community is vital to the program's success and looks forward to the continued participation of the science community as a whole and the SDT in particular as the Outer Planets Program and JIMO continue. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Curt Niebur, JIMO Program Scientist, at [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
