Geoscience Policy Monthly Review
june 2014

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space

NASA plans mission to redirect asteroid for study

NASA is asking the public for help in identifying asteroids suitable for study in its Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), with the goal of capturing an asteroid with a robotic spacecraft, redirecting it to orbit the moon, and ultimately sending astronauts to study it.

The mission aims to either fully capture an asteroid less than 10 meters in diameter or collect a sample from a larger asteroid. NASA plans to determine which asteroid to redirect in 2018 and to launch the ARM robotic spacecraft in 2019.

The effort is an early element of the agency’s Path to Mars program, with the aim of human exploration of the planet. In addition to helping NASA prepare for exploration of Mars, the agency has stated that increased asteroid research will help to ensure Earth’s safety from potential asteroid impacts.

The invitation for public help and participation, called the Asteroid Grand Challenge (AGC), was announced June 2013 and is one of several Grand Challenges instigated by the President through the Office of Science and Technology Policy. These challenges aim to foster new collaborative partnerships in the promotion and advancement of numerous scientific disciplines. Other Grand Challenges include calls for new ways to treat brain disorders, improvements in solar energy production, and creation of a more affordable electric car.

Sources: NASA, Washington Post

House hearing on the future of human space exploration and the path to Mars

On June 25, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a full committee hearing on the future of space exploration and NASA’s goal of landing humans on Mars. Former Indiana Governor and President of Purdue University Mitch Daniels and Dr. Jonathan Lunine, Director of Cornell University’s Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, provided testimony based on the report they co-authored outlining approaches for a U.S. human space exploration program.

Committee members from both parties stated support for a new NASA space exploration program and the technological growth and inspiration it would generate. The members expressed concern over the viability of the Asteroid Retrieval Mission, since it does not yet have a budget or destination. The witnesses acknowledged that extended surface exploration of the Moon would provide more useful information for a manned mission to Mars than asteroid retrieval. They also addressed the committee’s doubts regarding international partnerships, including concerns over foreign policy differences and intellectual property rights. Both witnesses identified past successes in international collaboration, and cautioned that getting to Mars without international collaboration would be a daunting task.

The witnesses explained that lawmakers need to come to consensus on a single plan, and emphasized the importance of sustained increase in funding in order to make a long-term investment in scientific research. They also called on Congress to foster the cultural change essential to providing bipartisan support for the space exploration program over multiple administrations and congressional sessions. In closing, Gov. Daniels stated that “this could be one of those subjects … on which people who disagree strongly and sincerely about other things could agree.”

Source: House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology