Risky asteroid 2009 WM1(Nov 2009)

[R1]

I would have liked to at least see some instruments dock with one like Apophis.
It's coming to within reach of humans before too long.
I think that these things are travelling too fast for anyone to catch up with, though.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: Opportunity with asteroid 2009 WM1(Nov 2009)!!!

We have been reading a lot of information that a step to Mars and the Moon may be instead a trip for humans to visit an asteroid. Hmmm Seems like instead of a threat 2009 WM1 may actually be a big opportunity to accomplish that first step! It swings by close to home for first visits as well as it could be use for a hitch hiking ride to mars or beyond and back. Not to mention it stays just outside the orbit of Venus and within the orbit of Mars.
Sounds pretty neat to have just found an asteroid close at hand that would not only fit the bill for planned trips to asteroids but also make the trip a lot cheaper as it comes home about every year

Skeb

Because of it's very high orbital inclination, I don't think it ever comes very close to Mars. In any case, due to the highly inclined orbit, it would require huge amounts of energy to change orbital planes from both earth's orbit to the asteroid's and the asteroid's to Mars'

There are far better candidate asteroids for such an effort, like one with a much lower inclination.

 

[MeteorWayne]

BTW, there have been no new observations of 2009 WM! in a week now...

 

[MeteorWayne]

2009 WM1 has been removed from the JPL Sentry page as a risk.

NEODyS still has two impacts, in 2062 PS -5.73 and 2079 PS -5.29

Now 79 observations over a 19 day arc.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Relax dude. They accicently linked to the wrong topic in the forums and are in the process of fixing it. Once it is fixed, I will move your post to the correct thread, and delete all the off topic discussion for this 2009 WM1 topic.

Edit 12/11:

I have moved the post to the proper thread, and deleted the off topic posts concerning the incorrectly linked discussion.

 

[HopDavid]

Re: Opportunity with asteroid 2009 WM1(Nov 2009)!!!

We have been reading a lot of information that a step to Mars and the Moon may be instead a trip for humans to visit an asteroid. Hmmm Seems like instead of a threat 2009 WM1 may actually be a big opportunity to accomplish that first step! It swings by close to home for first visits as well as it could be use for a hitch hiking ride to mars or beyond and back. Not to mention it stays just outside the orbit of Venus and within the orbit of Mars.
Sounds pretty neat to have just found an asteroid close at hand that would not only fit the bill for planned trips to asteroids but also make the trip a lot cheaper as it comes home about every year

Skeb

When an asteroid comes close to the earth, generally the transfer orbit for a short trip crosses the earth's orbit and the asteroid orbit at an angle. This boosts the delta V for the trip.

Shown above is an asteroid with a near earth perihelion. In this case the sprint orbit would take a lot more delta V than a 6 or 7 month Hohmann-like orbit.

For a Mars cycler to be useful it would have to pass by earth and Mars regularly and frequently. Mars Earth synodic period is close to 2 1/7 of a year. Every 7 synodic periods is close to to 15 years.

Period for an Earth Mars Hohmann orbit is about 1.42 years which doesn't go evenly into 15. There are two cycler orbits that are close to Hohmann, though. The Niehoff cyclers have periods 1.5 years and 1.25 years.

The 1.5 year cycler might visit earth every 3 years and Mars every 7.5 years. The 1.25 year cycler might visit earth every 5 years and Mars every 3.75 years.

The Aldrin cycler visits both earth and Mars each synodic period, 2.14 years. However it must have its line of apsides substantially rotated every trip, which would require propellent even if we use gravity assist. And the delta V of the taxis (the space craft that move between cycler and planet) are horrible for cycler to Mars. The Aldrin scheme is a horrible Rube Goldberg device, in my opinion.

And the eccentricity of the Martian orbit is another headache for Martian cyclers.

Venus cyclers are a lot nicer. The Earth-Venus synodic period is very close to 8/5 year. The period of an Earth-Venus Hohmann orbit is close to 4/5 of a year. This makes a nice system of Earth to Venus cyclers possible. And Venus' orbit is closer to circular than Mars orbit.

Are there NEOs whose orbits are close to being cycler orbits? If so, they might be helpful in making a cycler.

Meteor Wayne, my apologies for spinning off topic (though I noticed you briefly mentioned cyclers in your OP).

 

[MeteorWayne]

No problem, the 2009 WM1 part of the thread has pretty much ended with the near elimination of any rsk for a generation or two

 

[silylene]

New data in. 135.79 days of ARC.

NeoDYS has removed 2009 WM1 from the risk list.
JPL has reduced the risk to PS = -5.0

 

[MeteorWayne]

New data in. 135.79 days of ARC.

NeoDYS has removed 2009 WM1 from the risk list.
JPL has reduced the risk to PS = -5.0

That's for 1 potential impact in 2109.