[meteorite-list] NASA Completes First Internal Review of Concepts for Asteroid Redirect Mission

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 09:24:21 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201307311624.r6VGOLDd018693_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

July 31, 2013

Trent J. Perrotto
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
trent.j.perrotto at nasa.gov

RELEASE 13-240

NASA Completes First Internal Review of Concepts for Asteroid Redirect Mission

NASA has completed the first step toward a mission to find and capture a
near-Earth asteroid, redirect it to a stable lunar orbit and send humans to
study it.

In preparation for fiscal year 2014, a mission formulation review on Tuesday
brought together NASA leaders from across the country to examine internal
studies proposing multiple concepts and alternatives for each phase of the
asteroid mission. The review assessed technical and programmatic aspects of
the mission.

"At this meeting, we engaged in the critically important work of examining
initial concepts to meet the goal of asteroid retrieval and exploration,"
said NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot, who chaired the review at
the agency's headquarters in Washington. "The agency's science, technology
and human exploration teams are working together to better understand near
Earth asteroids, including ones potentially hazardous to our planet;
demonstrate new technologies; and to send humans farther from home than ever
before. I was extremely proud of the teams and the progress they have made so
far. I look forward to integrating the inputs as we develop the mission
concept further."????

In addition to the internal reviews of concepts for the mission, managers
also discussed the recently received more than 400 responses to a request for
information in which industry, universities, and the public offered ideas for
NASA???s asteroid initiative. The agency is evaluating those responses.

With the mission formulation review complete, agency officials now will begin
integrating the most highly-rated concepts into an asteroid mission baseline
concept to further develop in 2014.

The asteroid redirect mission is included in President Obama's fiscal year
2014 budget request for NASA, and leverages the agency's progress on its
Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft and cutting-edge technology
development. The mission is one step in NASA's strategy to send humans to
Mars in the 2030s.

For more information about NASA's asteroid initiative, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/asteroidinitiative

-end-
Received on Wed 31 Jul 2013 12:24:21 PM PDT