On Wednesday, NASA officials announced plans to launch an automated aircraft on the surface of the asteroid in order to lift a small stone about 10 feet in diameter from it and deliver it to the lunar orbit.
This mission includes two tasks: the development of technologies and equipment necessary to send astronauts to Mars one day. Another task was to capture a small asteroid in such a semblance of a bag and deliver the whole to the lunar orbit.
In any case, NASA plans to launch the Orion spacecraft with two crew members on board, to the displaced object, in order to test a new capsule in a three-week trial journey into deep space.
During the conference call, NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot told reporters that NASAane decided what kind of asteroid would be their donor, it would be about a year before the Asteroid Reorientation Mission, or IPA (ARM), starts at approximately December 2020. of the year.
It would take the aircraft about two years to reach its goal. Upon arrival, the probe will take about a year, and possibly more, to conduct a detailed study. In addition, to the selection of potential boulders to move, a series of experiments are planned, testing techniques for moving asteroids, these technologies may become useful one day, if an asteroid suddenly appears, the path of which will be directed toward a collision with the Earth. As soon as the desired rock was selected, the probe would sink to the surface of the asteroid and, using automated robots, raise the desired boulder. Taking off from the surface of the asteroid with a stone in hand, the ship would have been in the field of lunar gravity, the whole process will take at least 6 years.
By 2025, the Moon could get a new satellite in orbit, clearing the way for the next astronaut mission in 2025.
Lightfoot said that the capture and movement of a boulder from an asteroid would require such technologies, the development of which will be more similar to those that will be required for a man to master Mars.
It is also expected that this mission will benefit science more than any other, as it includes a detailed review of the whole asteroid and a full analysis of the boulder.
