美国宇航局准备实施小行星捕捉和登陆计划

美国宇航局准备实施小行星捕捉和登陆计划

美国总统奥巴马政府一位高级官员4月6日向媒体证实，美国宇航局(NASA)将加速对接近地球的小行星的勘测，在十年之内派遣宇航员登上小行星带回样品，最终目标是火星登陆计划。这一表态或标志着“捕捉”小行星计划即将开始进入实际操作阶段。

据美国全国广播公司6日报道，这位不愿透露姓名的负责人表示，该任务是为了加快“完成总统交办的任务”，奥巴马总统曾下达目标，在2025年之前，将宇航员送到一颗小行星上。

其表态证实了美国参议院科学和太空委员会主席比尔·尼尔森(Bill Nelson)5日的公开发言，后者表示，美国宇航局准备实施小行星捕捉和登陆计划，有可能提前4年实现宇航员登上小行星的目标。

科学家们认为，与其让宇航员到遥远的地方冒险，还不如把小行星捕捉回来再登陆，既安全又能完成任务，带入近月轨道后的小行星还可作为绕月空间站或太空基地，未来登陆火星时还可作为一个空间中转站。

今年年初，美国宇航局向白宫提交了一份“捕捉小行星方案”，总投资超过26.5亿美元，本月3日已就这一计划向国会提出了1亿美元的启动资金申请，标志着这项史无前例的方案或即将进入实操阶段。“这真是一个聪明的概念，”尼尔森在新闻发布会上说，“找到一个理想的候选小行星，用机器捕获并把它带回来。”

根据“捕捉小行星”计划，NASA将发射一艘特制捕捉舱，其在接近直径约25英尺、重约500吨的目标时会释放出一个大袋子，利用束带包裹小行星，最终在太阳能的推进下，将小行星拖至近月轨道。

显然这趟使命是一个空间技术的试验场，NASA的未来火箭系统将派上用场。此外，多家私人航天机构也表示要执行类似计划。俄罗斯遭受突如其来的流星雨袭击事件，使得科学家将目光更多地转移到危险级近地小行星上来。

尼尔森表示，小行星捕捉计划能帮助美国开发出“扭转”危险小行星轨道的技术，也为2030年左右将宇航员送往火星做准备。美国宇航局近地天体项目主管约曼斯(Donald Yeomans)认为，这项计划不会威胁地球安全，因为如果这种大小的小行星进入地球大气层会被烧毁。

美国媒体评论，如果这一计划得以实施，将是人类首次“操控”天体，是人类第一次为了生存而修改太空。政府文件描述这是一项鼓舞人心的任务，因为它“将人类送到比以往更远的地方”。

Of fi cial Con fi rms NASA Plan to Capture an Asteroid

Rumors have been leaking out for over a week, but now according to Alan Boyle at NBC News’ Cosmic Log, a senior Obama administration official has con fi rmed that $100 million is being sought for NASA’s budget request for the coming fi scal year for work to allow a robotic spaceship to capture a small asteroid and park it near the Moon for astronauts to explore. The spacecraft would capture a 500-ton, 7- meter (25-foot) asteroid in 2019.

Then using an Orion space capsule, a crew of about four astronauts would stat on-keep with the space rock in 2021 to allow for EVAs for explorat on. This plan would accelerate NASA’s deep space missions with Orion and prepare crews for going to Mars.

NBC news quoted the oき cial— who spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no authorization to discuss the plan publicly — as saying the mission would “accomplish the president’s challenge of sending humans to visit an asteroid by 2025 in a more cost-effective and potentially quicker time frame than under other scenarios.”

A week ago, Aviation Week reported that NASA was considering this asteroid mission,which was proposed by the Keck Inst tute for Space Studies last year.Keck’s proposal had a price tag of$2.6 billion, but no cost estimate for the space agency’s version has yet been released.

Then on April 5, the Associated Press quoted U.S. Sen.Bill Nelson, D-Florida, Nelson,chairman of the Senate science and space subcommittee, that President Obama is putting $100 million in planning money for the accelerated asteroid mission in the 2014 budget that comes out next week. The money would be used to fi nd the right small asteroid.

“It really is a clever concept,”AP quoted Nelson said in a press conference in Orlando. “Go find your ideal candidate for an asteroid.Go get it robotically and bring it back.”

This would be the first time ever an object in space of this size would be manipulated in such a manner.

Donald Yeomans, who heads NASA’s Near Earth Object program,was quoted that while there are thousands of asteroids around 25-feet, finding the right one that comes by Earth at just the right time to be captured will not be easy. And once a suitable rock is found it would be captured with the space equivalent of “a baggie with a drawstring. You bag it. You at ach the solar propulsion module to de-spin it and bring it back to where you want it.”

A 7- meter (25-foot) asteroid is not a threat to Earth because asteroids of that size would burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

The official quoted by NBC said the plan has been under discussion for months, but after February’s meteor blast over Russia, the plan gained tract on.