Posted: Tue, Sep 21, 2004, 8:58 PM ET (0058 GMT)
NASA announced Monday that it has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract to begin design work for a nuclear-powered mission to Jupiter. The four-year, $400-million contract covers work to design the Prometheus Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO). The contract covers some hardware development and other activities for the non-nuclear portion of the spacecraft, as well as integration of nuclear power systems and scientific instruments. The spacecraft will use a nuclear reactor and nuclear electric propulsion to travel to Jupiter and study three of its moons — Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa — in considerable detail. The mission is one of the cornerstones of Project Prometheus, a NASA initiative started last year to develop nuclear power systems and applications. Prometheus JIMO itself is scheduled to launch no sooner than 2012 with a mission cost of at least $2 billion.

Related Links:

•  BBC article
•  SPACE.com article
•  AP article
•  NASA press release