NASA May Use Ares/Orion To Visit NEOs

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Boris_Badenov

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NASA May Use Ares/Orion To Visit NEOs <br /><br /><br /><br />Aviation Week & Space Technology, 09/25/2006, page 21 <br /><br /><br /><br />Edited by Frank Morring, Jr. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are potential objectives for NASA's planned new generation of human space exploration vehicles, <br />along with the Moon and Mars. Jeff Hanley, manager of the Constellation Program overseeing development of the exploration <br />fleet, says a comet or asteroid in Earth's neighborhood could be a worthy objective for the Orion crew exploration vehicle <br />(CEV) and its Ares I launcher, even though the Ares/Orion stack is being developed for a lunar return. <br />"We're getting a study going on looking at using the Constellation architecture to send a CEV possibly to a near-Earth <br />object, rendezvous with one and stay in proximity and gather readings, possibly gather samples, investigate those bodies <br />and then return," Hanley says. "The performance requirements are very much within reach of this architecture we're building. <br />" He stresses that a NEO visit is only one potential application for the new human spacecraft that NASA has turned up as it <br />polls the scientific community, and not a "design reference mission" like lunar return. "We're saying 'look, we're building <br />these big rockets. What can we do with them?'" <br /><br />http://www.aviationweek.com/publication/awst/loggedin/AvnowStoryDisplay.do?fromChannel=awst&pubKey=awst&issueDate=2006-09-25&section=In+Orbi t&headline=Space+industry+intelligence <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#993300"><span class="body"><font size="2" color="#3366ff"><div align="center">. </div><div align="center">Never roll in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty & the pig likes it.</div></font></span></font> </div>
 
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gunsandrockets

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Interesting.<br /><br />The Orion by itself, once boosted to Earth escape velocity by a relatively small Earth Departure Stage, might be adequate for visiting some NEO asteroids. The 1,700 m/s delta V of the Orion service module is enough, for example, to brake at EML-1 and then later to leave EML-1 and return to Earth.<br /><br />If the assigned mission crew was only two instead of the normal four, life-support would be adequate for a one month mission. At the least that could sustain an exciting shakedown mission of Orion performing a flyby of an NEO asteroid.
 
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Boris_Badenov

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The sample return mission is the one I am most interested in. We have already landed 2 probes on asteoids, now is the chance to send a manned ship to prove how much better it is to send 2 pair of hands instead of a robot. <br /> Once we have sent 1 successful manned mission, it will be easier to send others even farther out.<br /> Remember the asteroid with the funny corkscrew orbit around Earth? If there was one, there will be others in such oddball orbits, that are not too far away. The Dv needed to get to an asteroid 2 million miles away & back, is not nessesarily more that what is needed to get to Luna & back. Harvesting asteroids & inactive comet fragments is the key to actually building an infrastructure in space, instead of just going up to visit & see the sights. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#993300"><span class="body"><font size="2" color="#3366ff"><div align="center">. </div><div align="center">Never roll in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty & the pig likes it.</div></font></span></font> </div>
 
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hansolo0

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I'd imagine if they could even land on or near an NEA, that they'd almost have to stay tethered to the ship. If they jumped too high they'd escape it's gravity wouldn't they???
 
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thinice

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<i>now is the chance to send a manned ship to prove how much better it is to send 2 pair of hands instead of a robot.</i><br /><br />Or to prove quite the opposite...
 
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subzero788

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"If the assigned mission crew was only two instead of the normal four, life-support would be adequate for a one month mission."<br /><br />Hopefully the crew size wouldn't have to be reduced; for example, a decent sized hab module with extra space and supplies (probably an airlock too) could be taken on the Ares V in place of the LSAM. <br />
 
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hk8900

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I'd imagine if they could even land on or near an NEA, that they'd almost have to stay tethered to the ship. If they jumped too high they'd escape it's gravity wouldn't they??? <br /><br />Yes, small astroids have extremely small gravity(1 over tens of thousands of "g") and can be escaped easily.<br />Astronauts may perform in the way similiar to EVAs outside the space station which is 0g
 
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Boris_Badenov

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Orion Hardware Reviewed For Human Asteroid Flight <br /><br /><br />Progress is being made on defining a human mission to an asteroid. Experts at several NASA centers are sketching out a prospective piloted stopover at an asteroid—a trek that could return samples from a targeted space rock as well as honing astronaut proficiency and test needed equipment for other space destinations.<br /><br /><br />At the heart of such a mission is drawing upon the technology of NASA’s Constellation initiative—the overarching program that is gearing up to extend human presence at the Moon, on Mars and beyond. One key ingredient is the Orion spacecraft—a post-Space Shuttle vehicle now under design to thrust crews further than low Earth orbit.<br /><br /><br />Meanwhile, NASA is wrapping up a report required by the U.S. Congress on how best to search for, catalog and even deal with the hazard of Earth-bruising rocks from space. That space agency report is to be turned over to Congress by year’s end. <br /><br /><br />If lawmakers give the green light to a next generation Near Earth Object (NEO) search program, there could be 40 times the current discovery rate of these celestial bodies. By the time a human mission to an asteroid is ready, there’s likely to be a healthy list of suitable targets.<br /><br /><br />Match made in heaven<br /><br /><br />A feasibility study to stage a human mission to an asteroid is underway, said Carlton Allen, Astromaterials Curator and Manager of the Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC). “It would involve flying people to one of the NEOs and, among other things, collect samples and bring them back,” Allen told SPACE.com. <br /><br /><br />Edward Lu, veteran shuttle and International Space Station astronaut, is a member of the JSC study team. They are looking into use of Orion technology earlier than 2020, as well as utilizing Delta or Atlas Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles to enable non-low Earth orbit missions. <br /><br /><</safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#993300"><span class="body"><font size="2" color="#3366ff"><div align="center">. </div><div align="center">Never roll in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty & the pig likes it.</div></font></span></font> </div>
 
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gunsandrockets

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"They are looking into use of Orion technology earlier than 2020, as well as utilizing Delta or Atlas Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles to enable non-low Earth orbit missions."<br /><br />That is the really exciting part. That NASA might fly an asteroid mission even before returning to the Moon. <br />
 
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