NASA Considers Manned Asteroid Mission

Written by Ian O'Neill

What would happen if we spot a Near-Earth Asteroid (NEO) heading straight for us? Assuming we had enough time, we might be able to pull together a group of brave astronauts (or oil drillers) and send them to the asteroid just in the nick of time to destroy it… oh hold on, that sounds like the storyline for a Hollywood blockbuster.

Actually, NASA is planning a mission to an NEO, but not because it's aimed at us.

An asteroid named 2000SG344 (which threatened the Earth in the year 2000) is being considered as the destination for the first manned asteroid mission. The asteroid astronauts will travel there, chasing the 28,000 mi/hr (45,000 km/hr) speeding body and then carry out experiments, living on it for up to two weeks. Why? To briefly establish a manned outpost, advancing science and technology toward the ultimate goal: Mars.

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In a study to be published in June, scientists at NASA's Johnson Space Centre in Houston and Ames Research Centre in California will provide a rundown of their plans to use the future Orion spacecraft for this task, with a stop over of one- or two-weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing their recommendations for this ambitious development…

Full article here:

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/05/06/nasa-considers-manned-asteroid-mission/