Timelapse of Asteroid 2004 FH’s flyby (NASA/JPL Public Domain) 2004 FH is the centre dot being followed by the sequence; the object that flashes by near the end is an artificial satellite. Images obtained by Stefano Sposetti, Switzerland on March 18, 2004. Animation made Raoul Behrend, Geneva Observatory, Switzerland. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
NASA wants to grab a small asteroid and tow it into orbit around the moon, as part of a long-range plan towards establishing permanent manned outposts in space, according to a US senator.
To get the project off the ground, US President Barack Obama will propose around $100 million for the US space agency in his 2014 budget, which he submits to Congress on Wednesday, Senator Bill Nelson said in a statement.
“This is part of what will be a much broader program,” the Florida Democrat explained.
“The plan combines the science of mining an asteroid, along with developing ways to deflect one, along with providing a place to develop ways we can go to Mars.”
The plan calls for a robotic-spacecraft to capture the asteroid and tow it back towards Earth, ultimately leaving it in a stable orbit around the moon, close enough that, within eight years, astronauts could head on over.
A similar plan was initially proposed in 2012 by experts at the California Institute of Technology, and the group, along with other top researchers in the field, have since prepared a detailed study into the project’s feasibility.
“It would be mankind’s first attempt at modifying the heavens to enable the permanent settlement of humans in space,” scientists said in their report.
Obama’s goal of sending a manned mission to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025 is impossible given NASA’s current and projected funding levels, expert analysis has suggested.
But using an unmanned vehicle to instead bring a 500-ton asteroid close to home could change the game and get humans to an asteroid as early as 2021, four years ahead of the deadline.
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Tow an asteroid to the moon
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- 2 big asteroids whiz past Earth in the next week. No, they definitely won't hit us.on May 4, 2022 at 10:00 am
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- US budget has NASA planning to capture an asteroid, USAF reviving DSCOVR (video)on April 10, 2022 at 5:00 pm
The ambitious mission to rendezvous, capture and redirect a small asteroid to Earth-moon space could not be accomplished without solar electric propulsion technology. This technology also will ...
- SHOCKING! This dangerous asteroid will be closer to Earth than Moon, says NASA! Will it hit?on April 5, 2022 at 10:41 pm
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- NASA identifies three potential asteroids for captureon July 23, 2021 at 10:21 am
After launch of the robotic mission, the journey to the asteroid would take a year and a half, and the act of towing it toward the moon could take another three and a half years, NASA said.
- Watch a meteor showeron November 26, 2017 at 5:47 am
The Geminids, named after the constellation Gemini the Twins, are remnants of a near earth asteroid, not an icy comet ... Watson will have several high powered telescopes in tow Friday night to point ...
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Bennu is a small asteroid, only a little over 500 meters wide. It’s shaped like two cones stuck together base-to-base. It’s not a solid rock but is instead a rubble pile, like a bag of rocks ...
- Electrostatic repulsion may be lofting small rocks off the asteroid Bennuon May 9, 2022 at 6:00 am
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- Thrilling space events in 2022: NASA's megarocket, meteor showers and moreon April 16, 2022 at 5:11 am
It's an unprecedented test, to see if they can push an asteroid off its natural course ... a lunar-circling base that will support astronauts while on long-term expeditions to the moon.
