ANAHEIM, California – Sending humans into deep space to make an up-close-and-personal survey of an asteroid is getting increased attention.
Speaking last April at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida on space exploration in the 21st century, President Barack Obama said his Administration is “setting a course with specific and achievable milestones.”
“Early in the next decade, a set of crewed flights will test and prove the systems required for exploration beyond low Earth orbit. And by 2025, we expect new spacecraft designed for long journeys to allow us to begin the first-ever crewed missions beyond the Moon into deep space,” Obama explained. “So we’ll start…by sending astronauts to an asteroid for the first time in history.”
Here at SPACE 2010, a meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, an appraisal of how best to trek to an asteroid has been detailed.
Rock of ages
Josh Hopkins of Human Spaceflight Advanced Programs at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Denver, Colorado presented “Plymouth Rock” – an early human mission to near Earth asteroids using Orion spacecraft.
The proposed mission concept combines a pair of Orion spacecraft with only modest modifications to provide the necessary propulsion, living space, and life support capability for two astronauts.
A study team led by Hopkins has concluded that the dual-Orion configuration can probably support deep space mission durations of five to six months. The company spent their own time and dime in developing the plan.
One of the two Orion spacecraft could be modified into an Orion Deep Space Vehicle with a larger habitat module suited for deep space operations rather than reentry.
Objectives
Hopkins noted that by sending astronauts to explore these asteroids and bring back samples for study on Earth, a number of objectives can be met:
— We can learn about the formation and evolution of our solar system.
— We can improve our understanding of the threat to our planet from asteroid impacts, develop the practical knowledge needed to protect ourselves if necessary and even test this capability.
— We could also assess the feasibility of harnessing asteroid resources for a growing human civilization.
According to Hopkins and the Lockheed Martin Space Systems study team: “The Plymouth Rock study shows that the first visits to asteroids can be easier and earlier than we have previously thought. The United States does not need to wait for more advanced technologies or develop expensive dedicated deep space vehicles. We can explore the asteroids within a decade, using spacecraft already being developed and tested.”
By Leonard David