Asteroid Mission Plan Comes Under Fire In Congressional Hearing

[American Patriot]

Asteroid Mission Plan Comes Under Fire In Congressional Hearing

Posted: 05/25/2013 9:24 am EDT | Updated: 05/25/2013 10:41 am EDT












By: Clara Moskowitz
Published: 05/22/2013 10:09 AM EDT on SPACE.com


NASA's plan to lasso an asteroid for astronauts as a deep-space dry run for a future mission to Mars has some members of Congress wondering if the space agency would be better off setting its sights on the moon instead.


The asteroid mission was announced when President Barack Obama unveiled his 2014 NASA budget request. The scheme would have NASA use a robotic spacecraft to capture a roughly 23-foot-wide (7 meters) asteroid in deep space, and redirect it to an orbit closer to the moon. Once there, NASA would launch a human mission to rendezvous with the space rock and explore it.


But members of the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space and Technology Committee expressed their skepticism of the plan during a hearing Tuesday to discuss NASA's ultimate goal of sending astronauts to Mars. The asteroid mission was proposed as an initial step toward that goal — one that would test technologies needed for a Mars mission and allow crews to gain experience in deep space exploration. [How to Catch an Asteroid: NASA Mission Explained (Infographic)]


Yet lawmakers questioned the mission's technical plan, budget and schedule. "I am not convinced this mission is the right way to go, and that it may actually become a detour for a Mars mission," said Rep. Steven Palazzo (R., Miss.).

Lunar legacy
Some members of Congress favored sending astronauts back to the moon instead.


"To me there is no better way for our astronauts to learn how to live and work on another planet than to use the moon as a training ground," said Rep. Lamar Smith (R., Tex.).


"It is difficult to determine what advantages this [asteroid mission] may offer," he added.


The moon plan was backed by some experts called to testify at the hearing. The moon is easier to get to, offers greater science objectives, and is a better testing ground for Mars exploration technology, compared to an asteroid, argued Paul Spudis, a geologist specializing in lunar science at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. "This effort is not 'been there, done that,'" he said. "It is a wholly new, untried and necessary pioneering enterprise in space."


But one of the architects of the asteroid mission was there to defend the plan, which he said is a realistic near-term goal for NASA that advances its ultimate objective of going to Mars.



Artist's concept of a possible colony on the moon.




"The asteroid retrieval mission creates a first step beyond the moon — the only one we are now capable of performing and the only one which we can afford within the current budget," said Louis Friedman, co-leader of the Keck Institute for Space Studies Asteroid Retrieval Mission Study and co-founder and executive director emeritus of The Planetary Society, a nonprofit dedicated to space exploration.


Friedman was co-leader of the study on the asteroid mission concept that sold the Obama administration and NASA on the idea.



Lure of an asteroid
In addition to providing a testing ground for new solar electric propulsion technologies that could prove useful in going to Mars, the asteroid mission would further scientists' understanding of the space rocks that populate our solar system — some of which might need to be diverted from their orbits if they pose a risk of colliding with Earth, Friedman said. The asteroid chosen for retrieval, however, would be too small to be dangerous to our planet.
"Nonetheless, the asteroid is big enough to be an interesting object to explore," Friedman said. "We may someday have to divert one. Exploring them and discovering new ones is important."


"I believe this is the direct and only sustainable way to Mars," he added.


But not everyone was sold.


"It is a clever concept and such a mission would undoubtedly demonstrate technologies," said Douglas Cooke, former associate administrator for NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate who now owns the Cooke Concepts and Solutions consulting company.



Astronauts return samples from an asteroid into their Orion spacecraft while orbiting high above the moon in this still image from a video NASA's Asteroid Retrieval and Utilization mission.



However, Cooke said he wasn't clear on the mission's application to Mars exploration, and he questioned the decision-making process that arrived on the plan without involving enough of the space community.


"I think a healthy process gets inputs from your stakeholders in terms of objectives and goals," Cooke said. "I don't see that that's happened here."
Ultimately, many agreed that whatever plan NASA decides on, the space agency must be given the funding to achieve it.


"NASA is being asked to do too much with too little," said Steve Squyres, a Cornell University astronomer who is principal investigator of NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers on Mars. "This overtaxing of the agency is chronic, severe, and it's getting worse."

• Contribute to this Story:
• Send us a tip
• Send us a photo or video
• Suggest a correction

[American Patriot]

No Buzz: Aldrin Trashes Obama Asteroid Mission

The Apollo-era astronaut says NASA should be working manned Mars missions

By Jason Koebler

May 8, 2013 RSS Feed Print

• Comment ()
• Tweet
• 
  

American Astronaut Buzz Aldrin attends a pre-Oscar party Feb. 20, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif.

The second man to set foot on the moon wants to see NASA send people further into space than he ever traveled. Buzz Aldrin trashed NASA's plan to bring an asteroid into lunar orbit in a speech, advocating for a Mars colony.
Aldrin, who recently published the book "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration," said at the Washington, D.C., Humans to Mars summit Wednesday that President Barack Obama's asteroid mining plan is merely a distraction.
[READ: NASA's Asteroid Mission Hopes to Prevent 'Large Scale Destruction']
"Bringing an asteroid back to Earth? What's that have to do with space exploration?" he asked. "If we were moving outward from there and an asteroid is a good stopping point, then fine. But now it's turned into a whole planetary defense exercise at the cost of our outward exploration."
The Apollo-era astronaut, now 83, has devised a plan to "cycle" spacecraft to Mars, continually launching humans to the red planet to expand on its colony. Aldrin advocates using Phobos, a moon of Mars, as a sort of home base for landing on the planet.
"Going to Mars means permanence, we'd become a two planet species. In Mars, we've been given a wonderful set of moons … where we can send continuous numbers of people," he said. The trips would be one-way.
"Their ultimate destination will be six feet under Mars," he said.
[READ: NASA's Mars Rover Is the Future of Space Exploration]
At the same summit, NASA administrator Charles Bolden defended the asteroid deflection mission, saying it was a step toward Mars, which he called "the ultimate destination in our solar system, and a priority for NASA."
That plan calls for NASA to send a robotic mission to a still undetermined asteroid, capture it and return it to lunar orbit. From there, a team of astronauts would be sent to sample the asteroid, sometime in the early 2020s.
"The asteroid and Mars are not either-ors," Bolden said. "The experience of exploring an asteroid will be critical for future Mars journeys."
[PHOTOS: Mysterious Alien Planets]
Aldrin disagrees, saying that the asteroid mission excites no one and is a waste of time.
"It's been 44 years since we stepped on the lunar surface, and I think the progress since then is a little slow. I've always felt that Mars should be the next destination following our landings on the moon," he said. "I want the next generation to feel as we did back when I was privileged enough to be a part of Apollo program."

[Ryan Ruck]

I agree that we should be focusing on manned space flight but let's not forget NASA is strapped for money thanks to Obama.

What are asteroids made of? Lots of expensive metals!

If we can snare a few and exploit them, that could ensure more than adequate funding for NASA for the foreseeable future, especially if they can get a number of private companies to work with them on harvesting the asteroids.

[American Patriot]

Yeah, I get it. I know.

Manned spaceflight (in Mal's tin cans, eating their own shit) is the way to go... lol

[Malsua]

If we could build and inhabit a structure on the moon that isn't on a permanent lifeline from Earth, we could ultimately do the same for the moon.

You will learn a tremendous amount of information by putting a base on the moon. From there, we could burrow into the Moon and maybe find something that could be broken down into water.

There is plenty of H3 on the moon, perhaps that could be their fuel source.

The same goes for a manned flight to an Asteroid and perhaps setting up a homestead there. You learn very quickly what it takes to make it viable and what was a useless idea by some Harvard MBA in a political assignment.

[Ryan Ruck]

We should have had a moon base 25-30 years ago.

[American Patriot]

Agreed.

When I worked for WHCA I went with G.H.W.Bush to Johnson Space Center. he signed the "plans" for the original "Space Station" that was to be a stepping stone to the moon.

Clinton killed that program and we ended up with the ISS out of it.

The station was a 9 or 10 billion dollar program which would have put us in a position to have a Lunar Base by about a decade ago or perhaps a bit less. We'd have definitely had one there by NOW for sure.

The thing is, money is appropriated for certain programs initially, then cut by later Congresses who want cash in their own pockets etc.

We COULD do it now... but at the risk of cutting Welfare. LOL