One giant rock for mankind

April 12, 2013 12:57 PM

NASA has officially announced plans to capture a small asteroid, tow it to lunar orbit, then send a four man crew to investigate.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (8 comments total)

A) This sounds awesome.

B) Rock on!
posted by never used baby shoes at 1:01 PM on April 12, 2013

"we're going to bring the asteroid closer to the Earth, what could possibly go wrong?"
posted by Ironmouth at 1:01 PM on April 12, 2013

As long as the real purpose isn't to, you know, threaten to drop it on someone.
posted by jquinby at 1:02 PM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

Double.
posted by whitecedar at 1:03 PM on April 12, 2013

Sure, it sounds like a good idea. But what happens when the asteroid turns out to be a hive full of angry space wasps?
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:05 PM on April 12, 2013

Free space honey. Duh.
posted by Keith Talent at 1:06 PM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

This seems like a major cop-out from Obama's original intention with the asteroid goal:

By 2025 we expect new spacecraft designed for long journeys to allow us to begin the first ever crew missions beyond the Moon into deep space
...

So, we’ll start by sending astronauts to an asteroid for the first time in history. By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to earth, and a landing on Mars will follow

Bringing a tiny asteroid close enough to the Moon to inspect it with a human crew without having to design a system to get astronauts any farther from Earth than they've already been is completely counter to the goal of having it be a stepping stone to Mars.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:07 PM on April 12, 2013

As long as the real purpose isn't to, you know, threaten to drop it on someone.

IANAAstrophysicist, but I assume the forces of re-entry would probably burn up a 7-10 meter asteroid. If somebody stood on it, they'd look like The Little Prince.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:09 PM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]