A photo from open sources
At a seminar held under the auspices of the Space Institute research Keck (USA), an approximate assessment of the possibilities was given organization of capture of an asteroid flying near the Earth with further placing it in orbit around the moon and the subsequent exploitation of its resources for various needs. Small size an asteroid is selected to fit in a 15-meter holder of a 20-ton robotic ship. (Here and below illustrations by KISS, Scott Adams, Universal Uclick.) The ratings are as follows: sending a robotic mission of this kind at cost may be comparable ($ 2.6 billion) to sending Curiosity ($ 2.5 billion) to Mars. For this, it is proposed, as is the case with Curiosity, use the Atlas V rocket (its first stage, recall equipped with engines of Russian production). After withdrawal the device will be driven by an ion xenon engine, 40 kW solar powered. He is slow will start speeding towards the nearest asteroid, a trip to which will last a year and a half. To relieve the task of the first capture, it is better to choose a small object as the target 6–7 m in diameter. Capture and tow (all the same ion engine) a small body to a lunar orbit should not take more than 2-6 years. In this case, despite the modest size, the asteroid will have a mass of about 500 tons. The technical training of the mission may be completed by the end of the next decade. Medium 500 Ton the asteroid contains about 200 tons of silicates, 100 tons of water, another 100 tons accounts for carbon compounds, finally 90 t metals dominated by iron, nickel and cobalt. For What is the most rational to use them? Most profitable an option would be to build a space base at the Lagrange point L2, at a distance of 61,000 km from the moon. As a result, in a lunar orbit the mass will be delivered 28 times heavier than the one that will take to space primary automated mission and this will dramatically reduce costs on the transport of materials for the construction of the base. If the supply of 500 t materials for the base to point L2 from Earth will cost $ 20 billion, then a similar mission with a captive asteroid will be almost eight times cheaper. As you can see, the idea is conceptually considered. more than a century of endurance: Comrade Comrade also developed similar thoughts. Tsiolkovsky.
A photo from open sources It’s one thing to develop such a concept, it’s completely different to convince politicians, traditionally living in a world of very different values. Most of all in this assessment the technical and economic aspect is important. Asteroid delivery to the lunar orbit is real and more profitable than other concepts deploy a permanent base at point L2. Moreover, with systematic sending missions of this kind the cost of each should completely fall to $ 1 billion. And the mass ratio of the launched AMS and asteroid can be brought up to 1:70. Another – and very significant – the question is, what is the most important component to launch a mission of this kind if the concept is implemented by forces NASA (such a scenario was discussed at the seminar) will be the political will of the US leadership. Alas, in this area reliable technical and economic calculations are simply impossible. FROM relevant report can be found here. Prepared by Based on Discovery News.
Moon USA Mars Rover Curiosity
