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From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:32:01 -0500
Message-ID: <mlolg5t8slg497rhvarcs1rqmcvvk75m5o_at_4ax.com>

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/091123-manned-asteroid-mission.html

Plan for Human Mission to Asteroid Gains Speed
By Leonard David
SPACE.com?s Space Insider Columnist
posted: 23 November 2009
11:56 am ET

BOULDER, Colo. ? Call it Operation: Plymouth Rock. A plan to send a crew of
astronauts to an asteroid is gaining momentum, both within NASA and industry
circles.

Not only would the deep space sojourn shake out hardware, it would also build
confidence in long-duration stints at the moon and Mars. At the same time, the
trek would sharpen skills to deal with a future space rock found on a collision
course with Earth.

In Lockheed Martin briefing charts, the mission has been dubbed "Plymouth Rock ?
An Early Human Asteroid Mission Using Orion." Lockheed is the builder of NASA's
Orion spacecraft, the capsule-based replacement for the space shuttle.

Study teams are now readying high-level briefings for NASA leaders - perhaps as
early as this week - on a pilgrimage to an asteroid, along with appraisals of
anchoring large, astronaut-enabled telescopes far from Earth, a human precursor
mission to the vicinity of Mars, as well as an initiative to power-beam energy
from space to Earth.

The briefings have been spurred in response to the recent Review of U.S. Human
Spaceflight Plans Committee and the option of a "Flexible Path" to human
exploration beyond low-Earth orbit.

On this path, the committee suggested, humans would visit sites never visited
before and extend U.S. savvy in how to operate in space - while traversing
greater and greater distances from Earth.

Building momentum

The merits of a human mission to a Near Earth Object (NEO) were detailed here
Nov. 18 during a two-day meeting of the Small Bodies Assessment Group, SBAG for
short.

SBAG was established by NASA in 2008 to identify scientific priorities and
opportunities for the exploration of asteroids, comets, interplanetary dust,
small satellites, and Trans-Neptunian Objects. The group also provides
scientific input on the utility of asteroids and comets in support of human
space activities.

The new studies are viewed as an iterative process - to be weighed both by NASA
and the White House, said Paul Abell, a research scientist at the Planetary
Science Institute detailed to the space agency's Johnson Space Center in
Houston, Texas and working in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration
Science Directorate. "It's going to take a bit of time. I don't think there's
going to be a quick decision."

How the White House will react to a human trek to an asteroid is beyond
anybody's crystal ball. However, undertaking the effort has garnered the
attention of Lockheed Martin - builder of the space shuttle replacement - the
Orion spacecraft.

Asteroid-bound Orion

The Plymouth Rock mission study began a couple years ago, said Josh Hopkins, in
the advanced programs for human space flight division at Lockheed Martin Space
Systems Company in Denver, Colo.

"We have been looking at what other interesting science missions could be done
with Orion...and asteroids were one of the ideas that percolated to the top,"
Hopkins told the SBAG attendees. He made it clear that the firm's study was done
using corporate funds and doesn't imply that NASA has endorsed company results.

Initial looks at the NEO venture involve the coupling of two Orion spacecraft.

In this situation, a two-person Orion would link up with an unpiloted sister
craft that's loaded with extra fuel, food, water, and oxygen. It would be tossed
into orbit - as well as an Earth departure stage - by NASA's planned Ares V
heavy-lift booster.

Bridging the moon and Mars

While detailed NASA and industry looks at the makings of a NEO mission are still
in play - including use of inflatable modules to add crew volume - "it's an
attractive option," Hopkins said. "It's really a good middle-step between the
moon and Mars."

However, maximizing astronaut safety, dealing with such things as trash
management, cosmic rays, sketching out abort scenarios must still be addressed,
Hopkins noted. But given the core attributes already built into the Orion system
"we think it does make sense for the human spaceflight program to be
investigating this," he said.

Between NASA and industry looks, the flight of astronauts to a NEO could occur
in the 2020 to 2025 time period. The round-trip mission would take some six
months.

There would be no landing on the asteroid. Rather, they would park in close
proximity, then jet backpack onto the object. Once there, science gear would be
deployed as samples of the space rock are gathered ? on the order of a couple
hundred pounds (100 kilograms).

"We assume staying at the asteroid for five days. They could stay a week or two.
But staying for a month gets hard," Hopkins explained. While on duty, astronauts
would engage in gathering data useful to understand the internal makeup of the
asteroid. That, in turn, is solidly helpful, he added, in dealing with harmful
space rocks on a worrisome trajectory dangerous to Earth.

Today, there are a handful of candidate asteroids that could be visited a couple
decades from now, said Clark Chapman, an asteroid expert at Southwest Research
Institute here in Boulder. That number will grow as more ground and space-based
instruments come on-line, surely increasing the discovery rate of NEOs, he
stated.

"We'd really like a larger pool of candidate targets so that we could visit a
NEO that has cool properties and would have the greatest scientific return,"
Chapman told SPACE.com.

Profound impact

"Human exploration is for human purposes," said Mark Sykes, chair of the Small
Bodies Assessment Group. He is also director of the Planetary Science Institute
in Tucson, Ariz .

Science by itself doesn't drive human exploration, Sykes noted, "but we can
benefit, scientifically, from this. We'll take advantage of whatever
opportunities come our way!"

Sykes said that he had briefed the committee that conducted the recent review of
U.S. human spaceflight plans.

Specifically, Sykes said that he underscored the prospect that NEOs represent a
location of resources that could have a profound impact on expanding sustainable
human operations beyond low Earth orbit. They could be a well spring of water,
he added, as well as useful for life support and radiation shielding.

If so, asteroids may well act as a lynch pin for people living, working and
populating space, Sykes suggested. But are those resources recoverable in an
economic way?

"It's within the realm of consideration. Of course, a lot more homework needs to
be done," Sykes stressed.
Received on Mon 23 Nov 2009 02:32:01 PM PST