![\"NASA\"](\"http:\/\/resources1.news.com.au\/images\/2011\/03\/23\/1226026\/810109-asteroid-landing.jpg\")
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ASTRONAUTS are lining up to be candidates for an extreme trip of a lifetime.<\/p>\n
In a press conference this morning NASA released the details of its plan to land astronauts on an asteroid by 2025.<\/p>\n
And while “planetary defence” is the most exciting of several reasons why NASA could be undertaking the mission, the agency says it isn’t planning a Bruce Willis kamikaze mission.<\/p>\n
That kind of drama and intrigue is reserved for Hollywood, said Dr Paul Abell, NASA\u2019s lead scientist for planetary small bodies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Armageddon film with Bruce Willis was a very fun movie but not exactly the most scientifically accurate\u201d, Dr Abell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to be an exciting endeavour but not quite that dramatic. It\u2019s going to happen a little bit more slowly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mission is designed to garner new information about the potential to harvest resources from asteroids, as well as the origin of life as we know it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis exploration incorporates both the science, exploration, resource utilisation and planetary defence all in one go,\u201d Dr Abell told news.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can do things that will further humanity\u2019s forays into space \u2014 going to Mars and expanding the human presence in the solar system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also expand our scientific horizons in learning about what\u2019s out there in the solar system.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd also being able to live off the land \u2013 resource utilisation is going to be key.”<\/p>\n
Oh, and did we mention planetary defence?<\/p>\n
\u201cVery important to the general public is the aspect of planetary defence and making sure we don\u2019t have an impact and making sure our grand-children or great grand-children don\u2019t have to worry about an asteroid coming in and hitting the planet,” Dr Abell said.<\/p>\n
NASA won\u2019t be able to land a spacecraft on the asteroid directly however, as most asteroids have a very weak gravitational field.<\/p>\n
That makes things a little tricky, because asteroids travel at speeds ranging from 54,000 to 90,000km\/h.<\/p>\n
The spacecraft is going to have to travel at the exact same speed as the asteroid while the astronauts deploy to and from it to collect samples and conduct experiments.<\/p>\n
“One of the things we are looking at in earnest is seeing if we can anchor or attach or tether equipment and astronauts to the surface,” Dr Abell said.<\/p>\n
Though they\u2019ve had plenty of volunteers, NASA is yet to pick a team of astronauts and do not plan on doing so for at least another five years.<\/p>\n
But if you’re thinking of applying for the job, know this \u2014 you have to be an experienced spacewalker.<\/p>\n
“It takes a tremendous amount of strength upper body strength and endurance. It’s very, very tiring,” Dr Abell said.<\/p>\n
“You\u2019re probably going to have to be doing EVAs (extra vehicle activities) on the order of maybe 8 to 12 hours at a time on these missions, so the astronauts really have to be fit both physically and mentally for what they are going to be doing.”<\/p>\n
In fact the physical activity is so strenuous that NASA is considering recruiting a new generation of younger astronauts for the job \u2014 blowing yet another hole in the plot of Armageddon.<\/p>\n
Bruce Willis and his team would simply have been too old.<\/p>\n
“The astronauts we send on this mission may not even be the ones we have in our current core,” Dr Abell said.<\/p>\n
“They may be people who are in university right now or in high school right now. We\u2019ll see.”<\/p>\n
NASA hasn’t yet chosen an asteroid on which to land yet either, but they have it narrowed down to a group of 1200 \u201cpotentially hazardous\u201d asteroids that present a potential risk to Earth and its inhabitants.<\/p>\n
“If an object is potentially hazardous, it’s because it makes close approaches to the Earth,” Dr Abell said.<\/p>\n
“So the objects that are potentially hazardous, even though they\u2019re present a hazard, they also present the best opportunity for us to go out and get them and learn about them.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ASTRONAUTS are lining up to be candidates for an extreme trip of a lifetime. In a press conference this morning NASA released the details of its plan to land astronauts on an asteroid by 2025. And while “planetary defence” is the most exciting of several reasons why NASA could be undertaking the mission, the agency […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}