Some people call me the space cowboy...

[Heel n Toe]

Revealed: Nasa plan to 'lasso' asteroid the size of two buses and turn it into a 'space station' to orbit the moon
By Sean O'Hare - UK MailOnline

PUBLISHED: 13:44 EST, 23 December 2012 | UPDATED: 17:16 EST, 23 December 2012

Nasa scientists are planning to capture a 500 ton asteroid , relocate it and turn it into a space station for astronauts on their way to Mars.

The White House's Office of Science and technology will consider the £1.6bn plan in the coming weeks as it prepares to set its space exploration agenda for the next decade.

If approved it would be the first time a celestial object has ever been moved by humans.

A feasibility report prepared by Nasa and California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
scientists outlined how they would go about capturing the asteroid.

A, 'asteroid capture capsule' would be attached to an old Atlas V rocket and directed the asteroid between the earth and the moon.

Once close, the asteroid capsule would release a 50ft diameter bag that wrap around the spinning rock using drawstrings.

The craft would then turn on its thrusters, using an estimated 300kg of propellant, to stop the asteroid in its tracks and tow it into a gravitationally neutral spot.

From here space explorers would have a stationary base from which to launch trips deeper into space.

The report said: 'The idea of exploiting the natural resources of asteroids dates back over a hundred years, but only now has the technology become available to make this idea a reality.

Read more: Nasa plans to 'lasso' asteroid the size of two double-decker buses and turn it into a space station to orbit the moon | Mail Online

[pavulon]

rope'n is fine but real men would be all about bulldog'n that little puppy!

[red-beard]

I expect they are talking about putting it in either L4 or L5.

[jyl]

Why is it useful to have an asteroid as a base?

To mine resources? Asteroid is 500 tons per story. How much useful material can possibly be recovered? Even 1% seems absurdly high. 5 tons. Easier to lift that amount from earth?

To push off from? Need to build/bring launcher. Seems like single-use, equal & opposite force stuff, wouldn't a hard push-off also destabilize the asteroid's orbit?

Interesting story, though note it hasn't been picked up/elaborated by any serious media. I'd like to hear more about why this could be a good idea. I also think to say "NASA is planning" may be overstatement, maybe more like "some scientists have studied the feasibility of".

[ckelly78z]

I think that it takes so much fuel to leave the earth's gravitational pull, they can't build a fuel tank big enough to reach other planets in a timely manner with a useful supply to return or correct trajectory.

If a craft could refuel out on the space rock and then gently power away without "launching", or pushing the rock backwards, it would be a useful tool.

[kach22i]

This could go so wrong.

They could just as easily drop that thing on us.

End game.

[red-beard]

Kach, it would take a bigger asteroid than that for "end game".

Asteroids

Even one 200 meters in diameter (bigger than a football stadium!) will cause local damage but no long term effects.

John: It takes an enourmous amount of fuel to put something in orbit around earth, let alone to put something into lunar orbit. If I remember correctly, it is on the order of 100 lbs of fuel per pound of device in orbit. And that is for low earth orbit! The Space Shuttle was very inefficient!

You are shifting something from a near earth asteroid, which might hit eventually, to something that will orbit earth/moon and be useful. The space craft will be solar powered and use a ion engine, aka a particle accellerator. 300 pounds of propellant at near light speed will eventually do a lot of course change. But it takes a while!

[stealthn]

Snoop Dog working for NASA now?

"Here man take a hit on this and figure out how we rope a asteroid"