Keywords:capture; Near Earth Asteroid (NEA); Moon; Orion spacecraft; rendezvous,; Asteroid Redirect Robotic Vehicle (ARRV)
Publisher:Pasadena, CA : Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2013
Citation:33rd International Electric Propulsion Conference (IEPC2013), Washington, D.C., October 6-10, 2013
Abstract:
Part of NASA’s new asteroid initiative would be a robotic mission to capture a roughly four to ten meter asteroid and redirect its orbit to place it in translunar space. Once in a stable storage orbit at the Moon, astronauts would then visit the asteroid for science investigations, to test in space resource extraction, and to develop experience with human deep space missions. This paper discusses the mission design techniques that would enable the redirection of a 100-1000 metric ton asteroid into lunar orbit with a 40-50 kW Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) system.