Human Outer Planet Exploration - Magnetoplasmadynamic (HOPE-MPD)

Human Outer Planet Exploration - Magnetoplasmadynamic (HOPE-MPD), a NASA concept for a manned mission to Jupiter's moon Callisto launching in 2045.

The mission would take 4.5 years, round trip. The crew would stay in the Transhab at the top, shielded by the surrounding hydrogen tanks. The whole ship would spin around its central axis, providing artificial gravity and using the hydrogen as ballast.

Once in the Callisto system the crew would land at a pre-built surface base. You can see the legs of my landers on the other side of the Transhab. The original paper had a kind of vague cylindrical lander but I made some more reminiscent of the Apollo LM.

An advantage of the HOPE-MPD configuration is that it is completely reusable --- just load up some more fuel for the thruster and send it back towards Jupiter.

Here's the original paper: http://lunar.earth.northwestern.edu/courses/450/callisto.pdf