Break me off a piece of that asteroid. On Wednesday, NASA revealed plans to grab a boulder off a nearby asteroid, throw it into orbit around the moon, and then send humans out for a visit. The mission will help us learn more about asteroids and prepare for future crewed trips into space.
A robotic spacecraft will take off in December 2020, potentially headed for asteroid Itokawa, Bennu or 2008 EV5. Once there, the robot will choose a boulder about 4 metres across and transport it to the moon, a multi-year trip that leaves plenty of time for scientific study on the way.
Then, in 2025, astronauts will travel out to the boulder in the Orion space capsule to collect their own samples from the rock.
Bagging an asteroid
When NASA first began investigating a possible asteroid mission several years ago, it talked about potentially moving an entire asteroid into lunar orbit. That plan would have involved catching a small asteroid around 7 metres wide in an inflatable bag.
However, NASA's Robert Lightfoot says they are now opting to pick up a boulder instead, because it will provide more opportunity to test technology necessary for a possible human mission to Mars – "the kind of things we know we're going to need when we go to another planetary body."
For example, on the way to the asteroid, the spacecraft will try new trajectory and navigation techniques, as well as use solar electric propulsion to propel itself through space.
"The asteroid redirect mission is an important part of the overall mission of us taking humans into space," says Lightfoot.
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