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

[Ron Baalke]

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."Â Â 

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 

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