Pointless asteroid mission

[imawizard]

:geek: I read the Plymouth Rock mission article and understand what "Lockheed" wants to do. I guess it took a federal threat to axe NASA for everyone to come up with ideas for Orion :shock: . But why jetpack to an asteroid when you can kamikaze a probe or robot into it--like we've been doing. How's this, "P.Leia - you don't need to do this to impress me..." stunt going to prepare us for a Mars mission? Why not hang out in space for six months, make sure they can get along in a little cube for six months (submariners have been doing this for 50 years) and then do touch-and-goes into the Mojave, Utah or any other place that looks like the ultimate target (ie., my back yard)--Mars. Or, is this just Lockheed's attempt at keeping a contract? At least this way, if there is a screw up :roll: , they'll be close to earth and get rescued. Tethering to an asteroid seems like an unnecessary risk.(*ka-ching = .02*)

 

[MeteorWayne]

There's already another thread from a few months ago (probably in Space Business and Technology) discussing this, so I will merge this post into that one when I find it.

 

[centsworth_II]

...How's this.... stunt going to prepare us for a Mars mission?

An asteroid mission will be fantastic preparation if the Mars mission is to Phobos and not the surface of Mars itself. You may not like it, but a Phobos mission may be the only Mars mission possible in your lifetime.