''Jupiter'' is a proposed

space tug ''Space Tug'' is a young adult science fiction novel by author Murray Leinster. It was published in 1953 by Shasta Publishers in an edition of 5,000 copies. It is the second novel in the author's Joe Kenmore series. Groff Conklin gave it a mixe ...

spacecraft concept by

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

, which was initially conceptualized as a 2015 bid proposal to NASA for an

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

(ISS)

cargo resupply services Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of flights awarded by NASA for the delivery of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) on commercially operated spacecraft. The first CRS contracts were signed in 2008 and awarde ...

contract. The proposal was not accepted by NASA, and future Lockheed plans for the concept are unknown. The conceptual spacecraft is designed to operate in

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a p ...

indefinitely, and be refueled from cargo pods delivered to the craft. Other proposed uses for the technology include on-orbit space tug services, according to company officials in a March 2015 presentation made in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

History

In 2014, Lockheed Martin proposed a cargo

transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...

system called ''Jupiter'' to NASA under Phase 2 of a program to procure commercial cargo delivery services to the

after 2017. Lockheed publicly announced the program in March 2015, and released an overview of the spacecraft and space cargo services they envision. By October 2015, NASA had eliminated the ''Jupiter'' proposal from the shortlist of the remaining competitors.

Description

The ''Jupiter''

is intended to launch to space — conjoined with an ''Exoliner'' cargo container — on an

Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas (rocket family), Atlas launch vehicle family. It was originally designed by Lockheed Martin, now being operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture be ...

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, launch pads, supported by a missile launch contro ...

, and deliver the cargo container to the

ISS The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (J ...

. Once the cargo is unloaded, the Exoliner would be filled up with trash and other disposables, as is normal with the

Orbital Sciences Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...

Cygnus, the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

(ESA)

Automated Transfer Vehicle The Automated Transfer Vehicle, originally Ariane Transfer Vehicle or ATV, was an expendable cargo spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), used for space cargo transport in 2008–2015. The ATV design was launched to orbit fiv ...

(ATV), and the

JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orb ...

H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV). However, in contrast to the typical cargo resupply spacecraft built prior to 2015, the Jupiter tug is proposed to remain in orbit following the completion of the initial delivery, where it would be available to meet up with a subsequent Atlas V/Exoliner and repeat the process. As proposed, in that meet up, the Jupiter would exchange an Exoliner filled with trash for the follow-on Exoliner carrying fresh cargo, and the Atlas V second stage would

deorbit Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...

the trash-filled container while Jupiter would shuttle the new container to the space station. Jupiter is to be derived in part from designs of two earlier Lockheed Martin spacecraft: * Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN), and the *

Juno spacecraft ''Juno'' is a NASA space probe orbiting the planet Jupiter. It was built by Lockheed Martin and is operated by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 5, 2011 UTC, as part ...

. ''Jupiter'' is to include a

robotic arm A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints ...

— which Lockheed intends to procure from

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates MDA Ltd. is a Canadian space technology company headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, that provides geointelligence, robotics & space operations, and satellite systems. History MDA (formerly MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates) was founde ...

(MDA) — based on MDA's earlier development of

Canadarm Canadarm or Canadarm1 (officially Shuttle Remote Manipulator System or SRMS, also SSRMS) is a series of robotic arms that were used on the Space Shuttle orbiters to deploy, manoeuvre, and capture payloads. After the Space Shuttle ''Columbia' ...

, the robotic arm technology previously used on the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

. In addition to the ''Jupiter'' space tug itself, the Lockheed concept includes the use of a new -diameter cargo transport module called ''

Exoliner ''Jupiter'' is a proposed space tug spacecraft concept by Lockheed Martin, which was initially conceptualized as a 2015 bid proposal to NASA for an International Space Station (ISS) cargo resupply services contract. The proposal was not accepted ...

'' for carrying cargo to the ISS. ''Exoliner'' is based on the earlier

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-developed

, and is to be jointly developed with

Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space () is a Franco-Italian aerospace manufacturer. A joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (33%), the company is the largest satellite manufacture ...

."Jupiter" Space Tug Could Deliver Cargo To The Moon
12 March 2015, retrieved 13 March 2015

Commercial Resupply Services

On 12 March 2015, Lockheed Martin announced the spacecraft and its proposal for Commercial Resupply Services Phase 2, which utilized the vehicle. The proposal competes with

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

CST-100 The Boeing CST-100 Starliner
is a class of two partially

capsule,

Orbital ATK Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) was a sector (business segment) of Northrop Grumman from 2018 through 2019. It was formed from Orbital ATK Inc. a company which resulted from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alli ...

's Cygnus, and

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

Dragon capsule American private space transportation company SpaceX has developed and produced several spacecraft named Dragon. The first family member, now referred to as Dragon 1, flew 23 cargo missions to the ISS between 2010 and 2020 before being retired. ...

proposals for the same contract. Similar to Orbital ATK's Cygnus, the system is not capable of bringing payload safely back to Earth. Lockheed's proposal, as of March 2015, is the only proposal for more than one spacecraft. Lockheed Martin's proposal to the

U.S. government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

uses the ''Jupiter'' in conjunction with the Exoliner cargo capsule. The first launch will include the ''Jupiter'' spacecraft launching along with a filled Exoliner cargo capsule. Once in orbit, ''Jupiter'' would be designed to perform maneuvers to approach the

. The ''Jupiter'' and Exoliner then will deliver cargo to, and carry trash from, the on-orbit facility. The combined unit will disconnect from the station and move away. After these events, a new launch of the Exoliner cargo capsule is projected to occur. All launches after the first flight will deliver only Exoliner cargo capsules, assuming that the ''Jupiter'' spacecraft is in good health. The new craft would include fuel for ''Jupiter'' as well as cargo to be delivered to the space station. The arriving Exoliner will remain attached to the upper stage through a mounting ring. ''Jupiter'' and the departing Exoliner, now filled with trash, will approach the nearly spent rocket stage. The departing container will undock from the ''Jupiter'' spacecraft and will briefly be unattached to either the upper stage or the spacecraft. Immediately following the undocking, the arriving Exoliner docked to the upper stage will be removed by the ''Jupiters

, and refastened onto the ''Jupiter''. Finally, the departing container will be moved to the docking system on the upper stage of the rocket. After the ''Jupiter'' and Exoliner move away, the rocket stage will guide the used cargo pod down for a destructive

reentry Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...

. Fuel within the new cargo unit will transfer to the ''Jupiter'' spacecraft by unannounced means to keep the tug fueled. The refueled spacecraft will then tug the new cargo unit to the space station. ''Jupiter'' is planned to last indefinitely in orbit. Lockheed Martin's goal is to launch a single ''Jupiter'', which will be reused for each on-orbit delivery, and the ostensibly less expensive cargo units would be expended through atmospheric reentry. ''Jupiter'' is projected to maintain fuel over its lifespan due to the fuel transfer during each Jupiter-Exoliner rendezvous.

References

External links

Lockheed Martin ''Jupiter'' concept of operations video
March 2015. {{Cargo spacecraft Lockheed Martin satellites and probes Proposed spacecraft Space tugs