 Why couldn't Dr. Mansard and his wife leave Jupiter?
The original text appears when hovering the cursor over the marked text. This e-text was produced from Amazing Science Fiction Stories March 1959. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U. S. copyright on this publication was renewed. 50 THE JUPITER WEAPON By CHARLES L. FONTENAY Trella feared she was in for trouble even before Motwick's head dropped forward on his arms in a drunken stupor. It was a squalid saloon in the rougher section of Jupiter's View, the terrestrial dome-colony on Ganymede. Motwick, already drunk, had insisted. A woman could not possibly make her way through these streets alone to the better section of town, especially one clad in a silvery evening dress. Perhaps she could call one of Motwick's friends; she had no one on Ganymede she could call a real friend herself. There were only two other people in the Golden Satellite: the fat, mustached bartender and a short, square-built man at the bar. She had the impression that Kregg's fist connected squarely with the short man's chin before he dodged to one side in a movement so fast it was a blur. It smashed on Kregg's head, splashing the floor with liquor, and Kregg sank stunned to his knees. The dark man, who had grabbed Trella's arm, released her and ran for the door. The gravity of Ganymede was hardly more than that of Earth's moon, but the way the man picked up the limp Motwick with one hand and tossed him over a shoulder was startling: as though he lifted a feather pillow. He followed Trella out the door of the Golden Satellite and fell in step beside her. The transparent dome of Jupiter's View was faintly visible in the reflected night lights of the colonial city, but the lights were overwhelmed by the giant, vari-colored disc of Jupiter itself, riding high in the sky. “No one has ever landed on Jupiter. “My parents landed on Jupiter, and I blasted off from it,” he said soberly. But his ship was drawn into Jupiter and lost.” “It was drawn into Jupiter, but he landed it successfully,” said Quest. “He and my mother lived on Jupiter until the oxygen equipment wore out at last. I was born and brought up there, and I was finally able to build a small rocket with a powerful enough drive to clear the planet.” “If Dr. Mansard succeeded in landing on Jupiter, why didn't anyone ever hear from him again?” she demanded.
 A human would not survive the force of acceleration that would be needed to break free of Jupiter's gravity.
 A human would not survive the force of acceleration that would be needed to break free of Jupiter's gravity.  Dr. Mansard and his wife ran out of oxygen before they could complete the repairs to their ship.  Dr. Mansard and his wife were torn apart by gravitational forces when they tried to leave Jupiter.  Dr. Mansard and his wife were unable to repair their ship after crash landing on Jupiter.