Concept image showing Orion spacecraft approaching the robotic asteroid capture vehicle (Image: NASA)
The purpose of the initiative is to gather more information on asteroids for mining
NASA has released new concept images and animations outlining one version of its plan to capture an asteroid with an unmanned craft and return it to lunar orbit for astronauts to study. The plan is part of an initiative by President Barack Obama for a US manned asteroid mission as outlined in his 2014 NASA budget request. The agency’s main objective at the moment is to come up with alternative approaches and evaluate them.
The purpose of the initiative is to gather more information on asteroids for mining, as well as learning more about how to divert potentially dangerous ones. It also provides the US manned spaceflight program with a new goal now that the International Space Station is completed and the Space Shuttle retired. The current program is still very much in the concept stage, but NASA has already come up with some broad outlines of what a mission might look like. Generally, it would be based on a solar electric propulsion system, the Space Launch System (SLS), and the Orion manned spacecraft, all currently under development
In the scenario presented by NASA, the SLS would lift a robotic asteroid redirect vehicle into orbit around the year 2025. This would then make a rendezvous with an asteroid using an ion propulsion drive (similar to that on the Dawn probe) powered by a solar array. Once on station, the vehicle would engulf the asteroid in a huge inflatable cylinder. Secured, the cylinder would collapse and cinch tight on the asteroid like a bag. The asteroid would then be despun and the ion drive used to redirect it to a stable, retrograde lunar orbit like a sort of interplanetary tug boat.
After the asteroid is in orbit, a Orion spacecraft with a crew of two would be launched, also using the SLS, and sent to the asteroid on a nine-day passage that would involve a slingshot maneuver around the Moon to place the craft in the correct intercept orbit.
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Asteroid capture
- Apophis: Doomsday Asteroid, or Just a Passing Space Rock?on February 20, 2021 at 8:01 am
The asteroid Apophis is about to make its close flyby of Earth. And astronomers want to get a good look at it while they can.
- NASA plans to catch asteroid and tow it to moonon February 18, 2021 at 4:00 pm
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 ...
- NASA’s Psyche mission passes key milestone on road to launchon February 5, 2021 at 8:02 am
Image: NASA/JPL The Psyche spacecraft will use a magnetometer to detect a potential magnetic field; if the asteroid has one, it’s a strong indicator that it once was the core of an early planet. A ...
- Space 2021: All the Mars landings, eclipses, astronaut flights, rocket launches, and other big missions to look for this yearon February 4, 2021 at 7:22 pm
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART ... the orbiter is expected to take the first photos of the sun's poles and capture images of the largest holes in its atmosphere.
- NASA On The Cusp With $967 Million Mission To Weird ‘Psyche’ Asteroid Worth 75,000 Times Our Global Economyon February 2, 2021 at 4:00 pm
NASA’s daring mission to a weird and unique asteroid called 16 Psyche is now ... field—a telltale sign of its likely metal make-up—capture images of its surface, and analyse its composition.
- Pictures from space! Our image of the dayon February 2, 2021 at 6:27 am
To capture this image, Hubble used a single infrared filter with ... you can see NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft using its 11-foot robotic arm TAGSAM taking a sample from asteroid Bennu on Oct. 20, 2020.
- NASA's Psyche mission moves forward, passing key milestoneon February 1, 2021 at 4:00 pm
A multispectral imager will capture images of the surface, as well as gather information about the asteroid's composition and topography. Spectrometers will analyze the neutrons and gamma rays ...
- News by Subject Space & Planetaryon February 1, 2021 at 4:00 pm
Although most near-surface meteorological parameters were adequately captured by most models, certain important discrepancies were identified, such as the failure to capture unstable low-level ...
- NASA’s Psyche Mission Moves Forward, Passing Key Milestoneon February 1, 2021 at 4:00 pm
The Psyche spacecraft will use a magnetometer to detect a potential magnetic field; if the asteroid has one, it’s a strong indicator that it once was the core of an early planet. A multispectral ...
- NASA's mission to the asteroid Bennu comes to an endon January 28, 2021 at 8:29 am
NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission to the asteroid Bennu to bring back samples ... The flyby will allow OSIRIS-REx to capture high-resolution images of the Bennu's northern and southern hemispheres and ...
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- Asteroids, Comets and Meteors Newson February 16, 2021 at 4:00 pm
Feb. 15, 2021 — Scientists have put forth a new theory that could explain the origin and journey of the comet that killed the Chicxulub impactor and others ... Feb. 12, 2021 — Astronomers have ...
- What Hollywood gets wrong (and right!) about protecting the Earth from asteroidson February 15, 2021 at 11:52 pm
Asteroids could one day be a stepping stone for humanity to life on other planets, for example. The idea of mining asteroids for essential elements is another possibility that could come to pass ...
- Luxembourg space programme to work with Nasa on moon miningon February 15, 2021 at 9:00 pm
Luxembourg first emerged as a potential space power five years ago. In February 2016, the Grand Duchy launched its Space Resources programme, a project to prepare for the future use of ...
- Asteroid Day Returns To Celebrate 25 Years Of Dedicated Asteroid Missionson February 14, 2021 at 9:02 pm
It was the first mission dedicated to exploring asteroids and it became the first mission to orbit and touch down on an asteroid – paving the way for all future asteroid missions. Now it's time ...
- Mesh shaders can boost FPS on current graphics cards by up to a massive 1800%on February 12, 2021 at 9:30 am
You can see the kind of implementation they demoed back then in the video below, which showed a scene with hundreds of asteroids on screen at any given moment with millions and billions of ...
- What Hollywood gets wrong, and right, about asteroidson February 11, 2021 at 8:56 am
Asteroids hitting the Earth have been a staple of Hollywood blockbusters for years. But what happens if there actually is an asteroid hurtling toward ...
- Opinion: We’re never going to mine the asteroid belton February 10, 2021 at 4:00 pm
which raised venture finance with its mission of mining high-value minerals from asteroids and refining them into metal foams that could be shot back down to Earth. Deep Space Industries Inc ...
- Is A Space Mining War Inevitable?on February 2, 2021 at 4:44 pm
Geologists, as well as emerging companies, such as US-based Planetary Resources, a firm pioneering the space mining industry, believe asteroids are packed with iron ore, nickel and precious metals ...
- Want Faster Data and a Cleaner Planet? Start Mining Asteroidson February 2, 2021 at 4:00 pm
Mining asteroids might seem like the stuff of science fiction, but there are companies and a few governments already working hard to make it real. From making their own swabs to staying in ...
- Mining A $10,000 Quadrillion Asteroidon February 1, 2021 at 8:47 am
"Mining of rare and valuable metals from the asteroids has long been fantasized, but then disregarded as something that is in the distant future. However, recent breakthroughs in fusion energy could ...
