AviationGeeks.com - NASA Narrows Potential Asteroid List

NASA is taking its first steps toward meeting the Obama administration’s goal of sending astronauts to visit an asteroid by 2025, surveying possible targets and brainstorming how to make the trip possible.

Although the agency knows of 44 near Earth objects (NEO) in orbits that could be accessible with a heavy-lift rocket roughly equivalent to the canceled Ares V, only three meet NASA’s current criteria for a human visit.

The list of asteroids has been winnowed down to comply with mission constraints, including that the duration be no longer than 180 days round trip, and that any object visited be larger than 50 meters (164 ft.) across, NASA officials said last week.

Read More...