NASA Says Such A Mission Would Have Many Benefits

You may have seen it first on the big screen, but NASA says a manned mission to visit an asteroid isn't as far-fetched as it seems. Experts at several locations are currently outlining the details and requirements of just such a mission.

The far-out mission planning just happens to coincide with NASA's wrap up of its Near Earth Object (NEO) report directed by Congress. Lawmakers asked NASA how it might catalog dangerous asteroids zipping around the solar system, and to detail how it might deal with an asteroid known to be on a collision course with Earth.

NASA engineers say a visit to an asteroid would have other benefits for mankind as well.

Carlton Allen, and official with NASA's Johnson Space Center told Space.com the agency is conducting a feasibility study for a human visit to an asteroid. "It would involve flying people to one of the NEOs and, among other things, collect samples and bring them back," he said.

Experts say the agency already has some of the hardware it needs in development. The Constellation program is NASA's bid to get man back to the Moon and on to Mars -- the same hardware could get man to an asteroid.

In fact, engineers say a mission to an asteroid would be an ideal trial run for the Orion spacecraft. It would also be a good way for NASA to work out the kinks for missions beyond Earth's orbit. For example: communications are almost instantaneous with orbiting craft. As you get farther from Earth, the communication delay will grow posing new problems for crews both in space and on the ground.

Early speculation by engineers suggests an Orion spacecraft might rendezvous with an asteroid allowing the crew to deploy remote-control devices to collect samples and conduct other experiments.

So why not just send a robot? For the same reason as always says veteran shuttle and international space station astronaut Edward Lu, "A human flying something remote-controlled is way smarter than anything you can program. You could look for interesting spots on the asteroid and make real-time decisions."

The biggest planning issue so far seems to be locating a suitable... ahem... rock. According to Lu, "We're talking about an object that's more than likely just 330 feet (100 meters) across, or less. We're talking a big rock or probably a big rubble pile, and likely rotating."

And size isn't the only consideration. It will have pass near enough and slowly enough by Earth for the mission to be possible.

If NASA's NEO initiative is approved by Congress it will begin looking much more carefully for a candidate object. Scientists believe the discovery rate under the new program will be 40 times the current rate making finding a suitable objects much easier.

NASA says whatever other benefits are gained from such a mission, at its base it's about survival. Agency administrator Michael Griffin recently told an audience that, "...our species hasn't been around long enough to have experienced a cataclysmic extinction event. But they will occur again, whether we are ready for them or not..." and in the end "...human expansion into our solar system is fundamentally about the survival of the species, about ensuring better odds for our survival through the promulgation of our species."

Next year NASA will co-sponsor the 2007 Planetary Defense Conference set to convene in Washington DC. There, the agency hopes to bring to the table a credible plan for a manned asteroid mission in support of conference goals.

William Ailor of The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California and general chair of meeting said, "I think it's becoming more of a credible issue now. People recognize that these kinds of events can happen...and we actually have the capability now to do something about it. The [space] community -- and I would include the political community -- is beginning to take this more seriously. We've progressed a long way over the last few years...but we still have a long way to go."

FMI: www.nasa.gov