NASA Plans to Drag an Asteroid Into Lunar Orbit!

There are two things you need to know about asteroids:

Asteroids can make us extinct (the threat) — see Planetary Defense
Asteroids can make us rich and provide homes for trillions of people (the promise).

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reply to post by twitchy


I dunno. The more I think about it, the more I like this idea. If we are going to fund space exploration, it would be wise to make planetary defense one of our top priorities. This is obviously a step in that direction. Of course another priority should be focusing on how to better navigate in space. Zipping around at thousands of miles per hour, with no real way to maneuver is dumb.

reply to post by twitchy


Do you know what percentage of the federal budget is currently devoted to NASA and by extension space exploration? Take a wild guess, before you look it up. You can't convince me that the real figure is too high. Yes, I'm going to be dogmatic about that. Perhaps you'll be dogmatic about not spending a dime on it till every mouth is fed. That is your choice and we'll just have to agree to disagree on that, but there may come a day that we will pay a very steep price because we did not advance enough in space exploration before our skills were tested by a dangerous impactor. Near earth asteroid research is a keystone in the foundation of what we need to be able to defend ourselves in the future.

If NASA does succeed in placing the asteroid into lunar orbit, then that may actually create a brand new liability.

NASA would have to constantly monitor the orbit of the asteroid for potential drift.

If NASA wants to preserve their prized possession, and it is slowly drifting closer to the moon's surface (in other words: falling slowly), a course correction would be necessary.

On the other hand, if the asteroid is going too fast, and is slowly slipping away from the moon, then a course correction would also be desperately needed, in order to prevent the asteroid from slamming into earth.

Just something to also think about.

reply to post by QMask


An asteroid this size would not pose a danger to earth even if it were to slam into us. It would be unlikely to "fall back to earth" on its own once it's in lunar orbit; a trans-earth trajectory from lunar orbit requires significant delta-V, it would have to be ejected from lunar orbit and then get flung back to earth - that is possible if the orbit is improperly designed and a later re-encounter with the moon perturbs its orbit to the point that it collides with earth, but extremely unlikely (compared to a simple lunar impact) and proper orbital design would eliminate the possibility altogether.

The "lumpiness" of the moon leads to what is effectively like "turbulence" of low lunar orbits, which is why low lunar orbits that are not actively maintained end up in lunar impacts. The total energy of the orbit doesn't change (it's not orbital drag from an atmosphere), but its shape does, which can lead to a lunar impact if the eccentricity gets too high and perilune gets too low.

A high lunar obit can be more stable though (the moon would be a better approximation of a point-like source of gravity from a higher altitude), which is probably why the rumored proposal specifically mentions taking it to a high lunar orbit, not a low lunar orbit. You do have to carefully design such an orbit, however; earth can perturb it into a lunar impact or eject it from lunar orbit altogether if you're careless (and then it would orbit earth unless and until it encounters the moon again while in earth orbit, which could result in anything from lunar impact to a highly elliptical earth impacting orbit). Stable high orbits do exist though ( science.nasa.gov... ).

I wonder if they will ask the world or just take it for granted they have the right to do something like this.

Originally posted by Glassbender777
There is already a rock in Orbit, Its called the Moon. I just dont understand the reason for this, and why we cant just go back to the moon, if we are going to attempt to do this.

If you hollowed it out, it would make a safe comfy space ship.

Originally posted by StareDad
I wonder if they will ask the world or just take it for granted they have the right to do something like this.

I too. wondered this. One big oopsie could be calamitous. I think it's presumptuous to think only one Government could make such a monumental decision.

Des

The right sized rock could be a continent killer or even a kill shot for earth....this is the quest for the ultimate size bomb is it?
A kinetic weapon like this would be unstoppable....
fraekin psychopaths.....

I read this article earlier today and all I could think is that if you wanted to practice mining an astroid wouldn't you need a bigger one? I mean this one is only like 20 feet right? What happens if their trying to mine it and crack it in half?? Is there some reason they couldn't just land it on the moon and study it there??

Originally posted by stirling
The right sized rock could be a continent killer or even a kill shot for earth....this is the quest for the ultimate size bomb is it?
A kinetic weapon like this would be unstoppable....
fraekin psychopaths.....

Ok, its not like they're trying to drag Apophis... chill.

Damn fool craziest thing I ever heard, its like something out a Dan Dare comic. What is the point? What benefit for mankind? Kennedy promised to put men on the moon. Obama wants to catch a lump of rock and sling it into orbit round the moon. Not in the same league really, is it?

reply to post by JayinAR


So your saying the Mayan failed to predict Doomsday so NASA is going to play god and bring an asteroid stupidly close to Earth with an inevitable catastrophic and ironic collision with Earth and space rock?

So was that the reason behind the secret rocket sent to space a couple weeks ago?

Yea let's defund the space program....but wait we need an "asteroid" to hit the earth (false flag from space) to fulfill Biblical Prophecy so we can accelerate our agenda (when the asteroid orbit gets tampered with and it is set to slam into the earth at some point). "Lunacy" squared.

Uhhh, asteroids are unguided ballistic missiles. Once you fling it at the earth it could land anywhere. And it would be a big one to have any other than (local) effect. A good book on the subject is "Foot Fall" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. It surmised that hostile aliens wouldn't need to park ships over cities or come anywhere near earth. They could just sit back and sling rocks at dams, power stations, airbases, etc. That would do it. Once the earth was locked in the dark ages, they could land relatively unmolested. Good Sci-fi read.

Meteor Crater in Arizona had a significant amount of Pt (Platinum) in its depths. I don't know what the spectrometer readings from the impactor on Comet Temple 1 showed as metallurgical make up either. My guess is it was rich.

They want to bring these back to earth so they can mine them. Putting them in moon orbit is the next best thing, i guess. Although they could "miss a little" and hit the earth by accident. Whoops.

"Oh, gee golly. Look at all the precious metals there are."

Another way that people are talking about is capturing an asteroid, literally capturing it and bringing it closer to Earth--- so that people could go back and forth to the asteroid, just like they go back and forth to the International Space Station. Only for safety reasons people are talking about a high lunar orbit for the asteroid, not an Earth orbit, so in the case of any crash the asteroid would hit the moon and not Earth.

As far as mineral composition, the goal is to mine for the highly valuable platinum metals so you're going to want a metal-rich asteroid. Asteroids are categorized by telescope observations of their surfaces tied with lab-based studies of meteorites that have fallen to Earth.

Mining Asteroids

I would say the reason for this idea is future devolpement of space based mining,
some of the rocks that orbit are made of very valuable material and would be very
useful resources, now on the other hand unless we plan to spend the money to
do something like this as safely as possible, which i doubt since everything tends
to be done by the lowest bidder, then this is way too dangerous, one day maybe
we will be responsible enough to do this the right way, this small one i wouldn't
worry about so far as danger to earth but my worry is when they start to see
$ signs.

reply to post by Skywatcher2011


No, I'm not saying anything about the Mayans. Haha

I suspect the benefits for mining are huge and putting it in orbit around the moon better than earth, especially if mining the damn thing. Although an even safer point would be a Lagrange point L4 or L5 both of which are the same distance from earth as the moon....being Lagrange points!

reply to post by Skywatcher2011


Thats like saying driving your car is 'playing god'. Backwards thinking.

Originally posted by StareDad
I wonder if they will ask the world or just take it for granted they have the right to do something like this.

who would they ask and why do they need someones permission? Do you ask permission to breath?