NEO Voyaging

A group at NASA is studying the feasibility and rationale for a manned mission to a near-Earth object (NEO), an asteroid that orbits near Earth or crosses Earth's orbit, once NASA's new spacecraft is flying.

Such a mission would have several positives. It would focus attention on NEOs, which pose a threat to life on Earth; they've slammed into the planet before, and will again. It would give us a close look at one of this group. Planning a mission of 90 to 120 days, a NEO trip would be an ideal bridge mission between a short lunar flight and a long voyage to Mars. It would be a deep space test of the new Orion/Constellation ship/propulsion unit configuration. It would broaden our ability to go places and do things in space. If establishing a base on one of Mars' tiny moons is under consideration, as reported earlier in this blog, a NEO mission would give us valuable experience in working with such small bodies.

A NEO mission might make sense in various ways.