New Scientist
NASA mulls plan to drag asteroid into moon's orbit
* 15:15 02 January 2013 by _Jeff Hecht_
(http://www.newscientist.com/search?rbauthors=Jeff+Hecht)
Who says NASA has lost interest in the moon? Along with rumours of a
_hovering lunar base_
(http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22504-hovering-moon-base-may-be-on-nasas-horizon.html)
, there are reports that the agency is
considering a proposal to capture an asteroid and drag it into the moon's
orbit.
Researchers with the _Keck Institute for Space Studies_
(http://www.kiss.caltech.edu/study/asteroid/asteroid_final_report.pdf) in
California have
confirmed that NASA is mulling over their plan to build a robotic spacecraft
to grab a small asteroid and place it in high lunar orbit. The mission would
cost about $2.6 billion – slightly more than NASA's Curiosity Mars rover –
and could be completed by the 2020s.
For now, NASA's only official plans for human spaceflight involve sending
a crewed capsule, called Orion, around the moon. The Obama administration
has said it also wants to send astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid. One
proposed target, chosen because of its scientific value and favourable launch
windows for a rendezvous, is a space rock called _1999 AO10_
(http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=1999+AO10&orb=1) . The _mission would
take about
half a year_
(http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2010/01/nasas-flexible-path-2025-human-mission-visit-asteroid/)
, exposing astronauts to long-term radiation
beyond Earth's protective magnetic field and taking them beyond the reach
of any possible rescue.
Robotically bringing an asteroid to the moon instead would be a more
attractive first step, the Keck researchers conclude, because an object
orbiting
the moon would be in easier reach of robotic probes and maybe even humans.
Catch and release
The Keck team envisions launching a slow-moving spacecraft, propelled by
solar-heated ions, on an Atlas V rocket. The craft would then propel itself
out to a target asteroid, probably a small space rock about 7 metres wide.
After studying it briefly, the robot would catch the asteroid in a bag
measuring about 10 metres by 15 metres and head back towards the moon.
Altogether it would take about six to 10 years to deliver the asteroid to lunar
orbit.
The project still needs some technical and scientific fine-tuning, says
co-leader Louis Friedman of the Planetary Society, but he sees it as an
important boost to exploration.
For instance, NASA has also expressed interest in _putting astronauts on
an outpost parked in orbit_
(http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22546-humans-head-for-moons-orbit--and-beyond.html)
at the Earth-moon Lagrange point
2. From there they could study a captured asteroid using _telepresence
technology_
(http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21628902.800-is-telepresence-the-next-big-thing.html)
, or even practise human landings on its surface.
Such work could help develop ways to use asteroid material for
construction or spaceship fuels, making the captured asteroid a stepping stone
for
human missions to larger asteroids and eventually to Mars.
A moon-orbiting asteroid would probably also be of interest to _private
companies proposing human missions to the lunar surface_
(http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22598-space-bigwigs-offer-billiondollar-private-moon-trips
.html) for scientific exploration and mining studies.
--
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