[meteorite-list] NASA Announces Next Steps on Journey to Mars: Progress on Asteroid Initiative

[Ron Baalke]

March 25, 2015
     
NASA Announces Next Steps on Journey to Mars: Progress on Asteroid Initiative

NASA Wednesday announced more details in its plan for its Asteroid Redirect 
Mission (ARM), which in the mid-2020s will test a number of new capabilities 
needed for future human expeditions to deep space, including to Mars. NASA 
also announced it has increased the detection of near-Earth Asteroids by 65 
percent since launching its asteroid initiative three years ago.

For ARM, a robotic spacecraft will capture a boulder from the surface 
of a near-Earth asteroid and move it into a stable orbit around the moon for 
exploration by astronauts, all in support of advancing the nation's journey 
to Mars.

"The Asteroid Redirect Mission will provide an initial demonstration of 
several spaceflight capabilities we will need to send astronauts deeper 
into space, and eventually, to Mars," said NASA Associate Administrator 
Robert Lightfoot. "The option to retrieve a boulder from an asteroid will 
have a direct impact on planning for future human missions to deep space 
and begin a new era of spaceflight."

The agency plans to announce the specific asteroid selected for the mission 
no earlier than 2019, approximately a year before launching the robotic 
spacecraft. Before an asteroid is considered a valid candidate for the 
mission, scientists must first determine its characteristics, in addition 
to size, such as rotation, shape and precise orbit. NASA has identified 
three valid candidates for the mission so far: Itokawa, Bennu and 2008 EV5. 
The agency expects to identify one or two additional candidates each year 
leading up to the mission.

Following its rendezvous with the target asteroid, the uncrewed ARM 
spacecraft will deploy robotic arms to capture a boulder from its surface. 
It then will begin a multi-year journey to redirect the boulder into orbit 
around the moon.

Throughout its mission, the ARM robotic spacecraft will test a number 
of capabilities needed for future human missions, including advanced Solar 
Electric Propulsion (SEP), a valuable capability that converts sunlight 
to electrical power through solar arrays and then uses the resulting power 
to propel charged atoms to move a spacecraft. This method of propulsion can 
move massive cargo very efficiently. While slower than conventional chemical 
rocket propulsion, SEP-powered spacecraft require significantly less 
propellant and fewer launches to support human exploration missions, which 
could reduce costs.

Future SEP-powered spacecraft could pre-position cargo or vehicles for 
future human missions into deep space, either awaiting crews at Mars or 
staged around the moon as a waypoint for expeditions to the Red Planet.

ARM's SEP-powered robotic spacecraft will test new trajectory and navigation 
techniques in deep space, working with the moon's gravity to place the 
asteroid in a stable lunar orbit called a distant retrograde orbit. This 
is a suitable staging point for astronauts to rendezvous with a deep space 
habitat that will carry them to Mars.

Before the piece of the asteroid is moved to lunar orbit, NASA will 
use the opportunity to test planetary defense techniques to help 
mitigate potential asteroid impact threats in the future. The 
experience and knowledge acquired through this operation will help NASA 
develop options to move an asteroid off an Earth-impacting course, if 
and when that becomes necessary.

In 2005, NASA's Deep Impact comet science mission tested technology 
that could assist in changing the course of a near-Earth object using a 
direct hit with a spacecraft. The ARM robotic spacecraft opens a new and 
second option for planetary defense using a technique called a gravity 
tractor. All mass exerts and experiences gravity and, in space, the 
gravitational attraction even between masses of modest size can significantly 
affect their motion. This means that by rendezvousing with the asteroid 
and holding a "halo" orbit in the appropriate direction, the ARM robotic 
spacecraft can slowly pull the asteroid without touching it. The 
effectiveness of this maneuver is increased, moreover, if mass is moved 
from the asteroid to the spacecraft by the capture of a boulder.

It will take approximately six years for the ARM robotic spacecraft to 
move the asteroid mass into lunar orbit. In the mid-2020s, NASA's Orion 
spacecraft will launch on the agency's Space Launch System rocket, carrying 
astronauts on a mission to rendezvous with and explore the asteroid mass. 
The current concept for the crewed mission component of ARM is a two-astronaut, 
24-25 day mission.

This crewed mission will further test many capabilities needed to advance 
human spaceflight for deep space missions to Mars and elsewhere, including 
new sensor technologies and a docking system that will connect Orion to 
the robotic spacecraft carrying the asteroid mass. Astronauts will conduct 
spacewalks outside Orion to study and collect samples of the asteroid 
boulder wearing new spacesuits designed for deep space missions.

Collecting these samples will help astronauts and mission managers determine 
how best to secure and safely return samples from future Mars missions. 
And, because asteroids are made of remnants from the formation of the solar 
system, the returned samples could provide valuable data for scientific 
research or commercial entities interested in asteroid mining as a future 
resources.

In 2012, the president's NASA budget included, and Congress authorized, 
$20.4 million for an expanded NASA Near-Earth Object (NEO) Observations 
Program, 

increasing the resources for this critical program from the $4 million 
per year it had received since the 1990s. The program was again expanded in 
fiscal year 2014, with a budget of $40.5 million. NASA is asking Congress 
for $50 million for this important work in the 2016 budget.

"Asteroids are a hot topic," said Jim Green, director of NASA Planetary 
Science. "Not just because they could pose a threat to Earth, but also 
for their scientific value and NASA's planned mission to one as a stepping 
stone to Mars."

NASA has identified more than 12,000 NEOs to date, including 96 percent 
of near-Earth asteroids larger than 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) in size. NASA 
has not detected any objects of this size that pose an impact hazard to Earth 
in the next 100 years. Smaller asteroids do pass near Earth, however, and 
some could pose an impact threat. In 2011, 893 near-Earth asteroids were found. 

In 2014, that number was increased to 1,472.

In addition to NASA's ongoing work detecting and cataloging asteroids, 
the agency has engaged the public in the hunt for these space rocks through 
the agency's Asteroid Grand Challenge activities, including prize competitions. 

During the recent South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, the agency 
announced the release of a software application based on an algorithm 
created by a NASA challenge that has the potential to increase the number of new 
asteroid discoveries by amateur astronomers.

More information about the Asteroid Redirect Mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/asteroidinitiative 

-end-

David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1730
david.steitz at nasa.gov