Posted on 12/01/2021 4:46:19 PM PST by BenLurkin
As an Apollo-class asteroid, Nereus’ orbit frequently puts it close to Earth. Its orbital resonance is approximately 2:1, meaning that it orbits almost twice for every orbit of the Earth. This makes a mission to explore the asteroid very feasible.
Nereus will come the closest to our planet it has been in the past 20 years, yet it set to pass 7.4 million km away, which is about 10 times the distance between the Moon and Earth.
No missions are currently known to be ready to explore Nereus, however it has been considered before. Both NASA’s Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous-Shoemaker (NEAR) robotic mission and the Japanese Hayabusa mission looked into Nereus as target, but both eventually chose other options.
According to NASA, if a mission were to be launched this year, it would take anywhere between 426-146 days, though the delta-v this time around would be around 10.37 km/s, slightly higher than launching a rocket into low-orbit.
(Excerpt) Read more at mining.com ...
Hadn’t thought about it, but how remarkable it would be to intercept and safely land an object like that. Dibs on the wish bone!
Its orbital resonance is approximately 2:1, meaning that it orbits almost twice for every orbit of the Earth.
Would the article have this basic fact “backwards”. Unless this asteroid orbit were “inside” that of the earth, it’s orbital period would be greater than that of the earth’s.
If you can’t correctly state elementary school science facts how seriously should we take the conclusions from this article?
Too many orbital mechanics issues to overcome to get product to a useable location.
You can't get sufficient energy in place to change orbits of the objects in motion.
You can't get sufficient energy in place to change orbits of the objects in motion.
Too many assumptions.
We do not know all the orbits of all the potential objects;
We do not know all the potential methods which might be economic, or become economic.
Yes, most objects would take a lot of energy. Not all will.
But yes, I think in most cases,the energy required would make getting product to a useable location, using rocket fuel produced on earth, would not be economic.
But, a "usable" location is also subject to a lot of variability and future change.
‘Potentially hazardous’ asteroid worth nearly $5 billion will skim past Earth this week, NASA says
By Ben Turner published 7 days ago
https://www.livescience.com/nereus-asteroid-to-pass-by-earth
And be sure to check out marktwain's discussion of asteroid mining!
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