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 Posted: Mon 16:54, 18 Nov 2013 Post subject: and could be ready by the 2020s |
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Proposed mission would grab asteroid, take it to moon orbit for study
PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 4 () -- NASA is considering a mission to capture an asteroid and drag it into the moon's orbit for study,[url=http://www.isabelmarantsneakersbootss.com/]isabel marant online[/url], researchers in California have confirmed.Scientists at the Keck Institute for Space Studies said the space agency is looking over the institute's proposal to build a robotic spacecraft that would latch onto a small asteroid and transport it to a high lunar orbit, NewScientist.com reported.The mission would cost about $2.6 billion, about the same as NASA's Mars rover Curiosity mission, and could be ready by the 2020s, the Keck institute said.The Obama administration has said it wants to send astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid but such a mission would take about six months and expose astronauts to long-term radiation beyond Earth's protective magnetic field, the Keck researchers said.Using a robot spacecraft to move an asteroid to the moon would be a better first step, they said, because an object orbiting the moon would be within easier reach of robotic probes and manned missions.The Keck team is proposing a slow-moving spacecraft that would approach an asteroid, no more than 20 feet across, then gather the space rock up in a bag measuring about 30 feet by 45 feet and begin a return journey to the moon.Such a mission with a slowly moving spacecraft would take about six to 10 years to place the asteroid into a lunar orbit, the Keck researchers said.
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