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Synergies of Robotic Asteroid Redirection Technologies and Human Space Exploration

Brophy, John R. and Friedman, Louis and Strange, Nathan J. and Prince, Thomas A. and Landau, Damon and Jones, Thomas and Schweickart, Russell and Lewicki, Chris and Elvis, Martin and Manzella, David (2014) Synergies of Robotic Asteroid Redirection Technologies and Human Space Exploration. In: 65th International Astronautical Congress (IAC-2014), 29 September - 3 October 2014, Toronto, Canada. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20160331-133431420

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Abstract

This paper summarizes the results of a 2014 KISS workshop that identified a wide variety of ways that the technologies (and their near-term derivatives) developed for the proposed Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) would beneficially impact the Nation’s space interests including: human missions to Mars and its moons, planetary defense, orbital debris removal, robotic deep-space science missions, commercial communication satellites, and commercial asteroid resource utilization missions. This wide applicability of asteroid retrieval technology is, in many ways, is just as surprising as was the initial finding about the feasibility of ARM. The current Asteroid Redirect Mission concept consists of two major parts: the development of an advanced Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) capability and the retrieval of a near-Earth asteroid. The improvement in SEP technology required by ARM provides an extensible path to support human missions to Mars, is applicable to all planetary defense techniques, could reduce the time required for the LEO-to-GEO transfer of large commercial or military satellites, would enable new deep space robotic science missions, and could enable affordable removal of large orbital debris objects. The asteroid retrieval part of ARM would greatly improve the understanding of the structure of rubble-pile asteroids necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of primary asteroid deflection techniques, demonstrate at least one secondary asteroid deflection technique, greatly accelerate the use of material resources obtained in space to further space exploration and exploitation, and further planetary science.


Item Type:Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Prince, Thomas A.0000-0002-8850-3627
Additional Information:The work described in this paper was sponsored by the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) and was carried out in part at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The people and organizations listed below participated in the KISS-sponsored study. It is their work that is summarized in this paper and the authors gratefully acknowledge their contributions. Louis Friedman: Co-Leader / The Planetary Society Tom Prince: Co-Leader / Caltech John Brophy: Co-Leader / NASA JPL Nathan Strange: Co-Leader / NASA JPL Danial Adamo: Consultant Erik Asphaug: Arizona State Univ. Julie Bellerose: NASA JPL Michael Busch: UCLA Nancy Chabot: APL Paul Chodas: NASA JPL Niccolo Cymbalist: Caltech John Dankanich: NASA MSFC Erika DeBenedictis: Caltech Heather Duckworth: Caltech Nathan Eismont: Space Research Institute IKI—Russian Academy Michael Elsperman: Boeing Martin Elvis: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Michele Gates: NASA HQ Bob Gershman: NASA JPL Heather Hinkel: NASA JSC Josh Hopkins: Lockheed-Martin Tom Jones: Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition Damon Landau: NASA JPL Chris Lewicki : Planetary Resources Philip Lubin: UCSB Dave Manzella: NASA GRC Dan Mazanek: NASA LaRC Mark McDonald: NASA JSC Jeffrey Parker: U. of Colorado Rusty Schweickart: B612 Foundation Steve Stich: NASA JSC Marco Tantardini: The Planetary Society Adam Waszczak: Caltech Bong Wie: Ohio State University Brian Wilcox: NASA JPL
Group:Keck Institute for Space Studies
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS)UNSPECIFIED
NASA/JPL/CaltechUNSPECIFIED
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20160331-133431420
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20160331-133431420
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:65812
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: Colette Connor
Deposited On:31 Mar 2016 22:37
Last Modified:03 Oct 2019 09:50

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