Posted on 09/19/2016 6:21:34 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The mission itself has a projected launch date of December 2021 for the robotic component and some time in the mid-2020s for the crewed mission. NASA has given the program the go-ahead to proceed to Phase B, culminating in a preliminary design review and baseline of the robotic spacecraft in late 2017. The crewed mission is still in the very early discussion phase.
Administrator Bolden expanded on some of Dr. Holdren’s points, noting that it is NASA’s intent to develop technology and techniques that can later be used by private industry.
All three panelists were advocates of ARM being a necessary component of the agency’s Journey to Mars. Fitting into the “proving ground” area between low-Earth orbit (LEO) and Earth-independent deep space missions, ARM provides the opportunity for NASA to test key hardware, such as advanced solar electric propulsion, in a region only days away from Earth rather than months as would be the case for a Mars mission.
Indeed, advanced solar electric propulsion (SEP) has been touted as a critical need for travel to the Red Planet in order to minimize vehicle mass while keeping mission duration within reasonable limits. SEP is not a new technology and has been a core propulsion component of many Earth-centric satellites, as well as notable deep space robotic explorers like NASA’s Dawn spacecraft.
However, SEP will need to be a couple orders of magnitude more powerful than the 2 kilowatt unit on Dawn if it is to be used for a crewed mission. Working toward the goal of a human-rated 200–500 kilowatt SEP unit for a Mars transit, ARM mission designs call for a 50 kilowatt SEP engine for the spacecraft.
(Excerpt) Read more at spaceflightinsider.com ...
Redirecting an asteroid towards a country, that was big enough to wipe it out without ending life on the planet would be some weapon.
But since I know nothing of science I ALREADY know there’s 50 problems with that scenario :)
“Planetary protection supporters have touted the ability of ARM to demonstrate a method of altering an incoming planetoid’s path by means of a “gravity tractor” technique – using the mass of the spacecraft and a sizable boulder collected from the asteroid to create a gravitational field sufficient to ‘tug’ the asteroid. Simulations suggest that it is possible to deflect an incoming body without the need to use a more direct, and potentially less effective, means of diversion – such as a nuclear detonation or an impactor.”
If you think nuclear weapons are destructive, wait until we can deflect an asteroid or two to Earth! Craters the size of counties!
We are $20 TRILLION in debt. Close NASA!!
“We are $20 TRILLION in debt. Close NASA!!”
HEAR! HEAR! If it is important, the free market will have a solution. No need for gubmint run moneypit.
The idea is to redirect the asteroid AWAY from Earth.
“The idea is to redirect the asteroid AWAY from Earth.”
Don’t worry. Put me in charge. I’ll take care of it, I’m not like those others, like those creeps in the UN or progressives.
Obama’s budget proposal actually does cut the NASA budget from the 2016 authorization, while the overall federal budget actually increases to over $4.1 trillion. NASA’s budget proposal is about $19 billion. The proposed outlays for three welfare programs, WIC, SNAP, and CNP, are $111.4 billion. Looks like we’d be better off going after the big-ticket wasteful spending (welfare) than we would a small-potatoes operation like NASA.
The concept is called “Rods from God”.
Conventional wisdom (in the academic-government-NASA-research institutes) forbids, of course, the use (or even thought of!) nuclear weapons to blow parts of the inbound comet/asteroid into smaller pieces that might just NOT hit the earth at all......
Weeellll, ya gott figger out how to attach the gizmo drivin’ the asteroid to the asteroid/comet.
Hits that big are as bad as a general nuclear conflagration. Very few humans survive, in the long run.
Finally , some great support. We spent all our money on welfare ( with out a community service requirement) and stupid war that meant nothing. Now we are dead broke. No more money for luxuries.
Correct. You just have to hit it B4 it is right on top of you.
Perhaps the idea is to keep all of us from looking at this while NASA wastes taxpayer money:
Well, I’d aim one a long ways out - try to get a little momentum change sideways. Or slow it. Or speed it. Only thing that matters is changing the mass (by breaking it up) and changing the momentum - by a little itty bitty bit. But do that a long way before imapct.
Then have the second hit.
Then the third.
Then the fourth.
Then the fifth. Send another 27. Blow them up if yo need to. Let them coast by if the thing is already split up or is off-course.
Most of the impactors will be comets. Rather fragile, but even one impact on Jupiter caused a black wave larger than three earth diameters.
“Hits that big are as bad as a general nuclear conflagration. Very few humans survive, in the long run.”
Depends on the size. Barringer (Meteor Crater) was about 100M in diameter and would take out a county 100% and a state maybe 40%.
One the size of the recent Russian bolide would be a city-killer if it had come in at a steeper angle, but damage would be limited to a few miles.
So if you can be selective as to size and aim, it’s a weapon that is useful. A 5M rock at 31,000 mph would mess up Manhattan without much collateral. A 200 meter rock, even an ice core, would mess up most of the East Coast.
A 5 KM diameter impactor, like Chesapeake, would leave a 50 mile wide crater and would wipe half a continent, but it would be hard to steer here while retaining velocity.
““The idea is to redirect the asteroid AWAY from Earth.””
Not if NASA Muslim outreach has anything to do with it.
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