Which Asteroids Might Astronauts Visit?
Department:
The Future in Space
Teaser:
"Human explorers can only reach a limited number of asteroids during the next several decades."
Source:
SPACE.com Download time: Sep 1 2010 8:15 AM ET
NASA may appear to have its pick of thousands of known asteroids for a manned mission, but only two are good targets within the next 20 years.
An asteroid mission requires a large-enough destination that astronauts could reach within a few months of launch from Earth, says Lindley Johnson, head of NASA's Near-Earth Object program in Washington. Other limits to such an ambitious undertaking include the viewing range of ground-based telescopes.
"They don't come all that close all that often," Johnson said at a NASA workshop on NEOs three weeks ago.
While NASA admits more knowledge about objects that pass within 28 million miles (45 million km) of Earth could increase the number of possible destinations, only two currently meet the guidelines set out by the space agency in its attempt to send a manned mission to an asteroid by 2025, a goal set by President Barack Obama. One of the asteroids could be reached in 2020 and the other in 2025.
A third candidate would not be within range until 2045.…
See SPACE.com for links to further info.
