NASA Considers Putting an Asteroid Into Orbit Around the Moon 171
Zothecula writes "To paraphrase an old saying, if the astronaut can't go to the asteroid, then the asteroid must come to the astronaut. In a study released by the Keck Institute for Space Studies, researchers outlined a mission (PDF) to tow an asteroid into lunar orbit by 2025 using ion propulsion and a really big bag. The idea is to bring an asteroid close to Earth for easy study and visits by astronauts without the hazards and expense of a deep space mission. Now, Keck researchers say NASA officials are evaluating the plan to see whether it's something they want to do. The total cost is estimated to be roughly $2.6 billion."
What could possibly go wrong? (Score:5, Insightful)
Could just imagine it done wrong and it eventually just smacks into us.
Re:What could possibly go wrong? (Score:5, Insightful)
It is actually staggeringly hard to deorbit an asteroid into a planet. Things don't just "fall' towards gravity wells - they orbit them. To actually hit something, you need to remove all the lateral motion relative to the body - which involves a lot of applied delta-V in the right direction of the orbit - for it to actually fall towards the target (+ - whatever you can get away with if you want to just skim the atmosphere).
Without intentionally trying to, we're likely to have hundreds of years warning if an asteroid relocation was going to hit us.
Re:What could possibly go wrong? (Score:4, Insightful)
No, they defintely mean 7 meters. 500,000 kg. Which seems like a lot, if it's hitting your house at several miles per second.
But that's only 90,000 kg more than the ISS (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/isstodate.html).
On the other hand, I bet the ISS would burn up a lot better on its way towards your house.
Re:What could possibly go wrong? (Score:2, Insightful)
Have you considered the possibility that they're not idiots? If it's 7m diameter asteroids, I assume those are small enough to burn up in our atmosphere. Either way, what are the chances that your thoroughly researched and calculated concerns will be something they haven't considered or justifiably dismissed?
Re:What could possibly go wrong? (Score:5, Insightful)