Is it possible to land on asteroid

NASA conducted several test-runs of the mission and instructed OSIRIS-REx to descend to the surface to ensure the spacecraft was working properly, coming as close as 40m above the surface in the final test. One of the exciting early discoveries of this mission was finding the presence of water molecules on Bennu — the key ingredient for life — along with many other organic compounds that came as a surprise. Asteroid analysis begins in The collected rock samples have been placed into a delivery capsule that was stored on the exterior of OSIRIS-REx, and will spend the next three years making their way back to arrive on Earth in September The capsule will land in the Utah desert in the United States where it will be collected for analysis by teams in both the US and Japan.

Much of the rock material will be distributed to scientific research organisations around the world to be studied and analysed for years to come. Rocks may not seem very important in the scale of things, but scientists hope that samples from Bennu will provide new insights into how our solar system formed and how life once began on Earth.

Atlas V takes flight — sending Lucy Read More. SpaceX is used to making history with its spaceflights, and their most recent mission was no exception.

Despite the Crew Dragon having only flown with astronauts for the first time in Congress is resisting Obama's change of direction, which could delay investment in the program.

If Obama wants to bolster his cause, there's a rationale he could cite: An asteroid could wipe out as many human lives as a nuclear bomb. The dominant scientific theory posits that dinosaurs went extinct because of a direct hit from an asteroid as wide as San Francisco. A space rock big enough to kill thousands slams into Earth every 30, years, according to a January report from the National Research Council.

That scenario provided the rationale for asteroid missions in various Hollywood movies, including "Armageddon. It went on to be a staple on cable television. But if Americans think they have an understanding of the challenge of going to an asteroid, they're wrong. Obama's plans for NASA have drawn many opponents, including Armstrong, but their criticism centers on the administration's reliance on private space companies to ferry astronauts to orbit.

The goal of an asteroid hasn't been questioned as much. That doesn't mean it would be easy. Although experts agree it could be done, here are four asteroid-sized reasons why life won't imitate art. In "Armageddon," Willis' character and his crew blast off in two modified space shuttles to reach the killer asteroid. But NASA has long planned to retire the shuttles within the next year.

And even if they weren't all headed to museums, they're useless as asteroid transporters. The shuttles were built only to circle Earth, said Dan Adamo, a former mission control engineer who has studied human missions to asteroids. They don't carry the fuel to jump into deep space, and their heat shields aren't designed to withstand the extra-high temperatures of returning from a destination other than the Earth's orbit.

What's needed instead is a giant rocket on the scale of the monstrous Saturn V -- taller than Big Ben -- that propelled man to the moon in the s and s. Such a project is "a difficult challenge" that will cost in the multiple billions of dollars, said Ray Colladay, a member of NASA's advisory council.

Building a 21st-century version can be done but will require a sharp increase in the NASA budget later this decade, some space experts say. NASA would also need to build a new spaceship where the astronauts can live and store all the oxygen, food and water needed for a long voyage.

One option is to launch a small space pod carrying the crew, then, once safely in space, unleash an inflatable habitat, Leshin said.

Willis and company arrive at their target asteroid in a few days, if not a few hours. Admittedly, it's streaking toward Earth at the time. NASA would prefer to go to one before it gets to that stage. Studies by Adamo, former astronaut Thomas Jones and others show that a round trip to a target asteroid would typically take five to six months. That assumes NASA shoots for one of the 40 or so asteroids that come closest to the Earth's path in the s and s and relies on spacecraft similar to those NASA had designed for Bush's moon mission.

Another problem during the journey -- the crew would spend months "cooking" in space radiation, said NASA's Dave Korsmeyer, who has compiled a list of the most accessible asteroids. Shuttle passengers are somewhat screened from such radiation by Earth's magnetic field.

Astronauts who leave Earth's orbit have no such protection. Space radiation raises the risk of cancer and in extreme cases causes nausea and vomiting, said Walter Schimmerling, former program scientist of NASA's space radiation program. The astronauts might need to take drugs to prevent the ill effects of radiation. The US mission follows one run by Japan called Hayabusa2 , which is due to return to Earth in December bearing samples collected from the 4.

When it lands in the Australian desert, it will be the first ever sub-surface asteroid sample to return to Earth. On Bennu, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft took four and a half hours to make its way down from its tight orbit to the surface, following commands sent well in advance by ground controllers near Denver. As a result, the spacecraft had to reach out with its 11ft 3. The coronavirus pandemic had resulted in a two-month delay. After it touched down, Hayabusa-2 then collected a new set of samples and left Ryugu's surface.

At the end of this year, it will begin the 5. Everyone in the control room is making a cheerful V-sign for the second touchdown! But the probe didn't land on Bennu's surface; instead, it's been orbiting at a record-breakingly close distance.

During that quick instant, it will blow nitrogen gas to stir up dust and pebbles and collect the samples. If all goes according to plan, it will return that material to Earth in The asteroid's surface has turned out to be rougher than expected, however, and debris flying off the space rock can pose a threat to the orbiting spacecraft.

So NASA is still choosing its sampling site.