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Currently, a definitive exploration roadmap is still being worked, one that is due for a NASA Headquarters overview briefing this month, but may remain under evaluation \u2013 and more importantly unreleased \u2013 until 2013.<\/p>\n
As such \u2013 and as used by Deputy Administrator Lori Garver during Discovery\u2019s arrival at Dulles Airport on Tuesday \u2013 the party line for NASA continues to be the vague reference of missions to an \u201cAsteroid and eventually Mars\u201d for the Agency\u2019s Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) ambitions.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Z213.jpg\" "\\"Z21\\"")
However, with updated details (L2 Link) to be published in an article at a later date, an international Exploration Platform (or Gateway) continues to one of the leading options, in turn becoming one of the key elements in the baseline of the exploration roadmap.<\/p>\nBuilt at the International Space Station (ISS) and then sent to Earth Moon Lagrange point (EML2) via Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP), this Gateway would provide a staging post for mission to the Lunar Surface, NEAs, Mars and potentially other destinations.<\/p>\n
Currently, based on the Design Reference Missions (DRMs) in the Exploration Systems Development Division (ESD) Concept Of Operations (Con Ops) document (L2 Link), the plan of record for NEA missions revolves around the use of two to three \u2013 depending on if the mission\u2019s content \u2013 Space Launch System (SLS) Heavy Lift Launch Vehicles (HLVs) to loft the required hardware into orbit ahead of the long duration mission into deep space.<\/p>\n
NASA educational resources
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Click here for other NEA Articles: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/neo\/<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/A164.jpg\" "\\"A164\\"")
As far as potential NEAs to visit, only the 2009 Flexible Path presentation (L2 Link) provides actual targets, with a mission to Near Earth Object 1999AO10 outlined, requiring a mission launch date of January 2, 2026.<\/p>\nThe NEO 1999AO10 deep space mission would last 155 days, around half of the mission length for the alternative candidate mentioned in the Flexible Path approach \u2013 304 days \u2013 for NEO 2001 GP2.<\/p>\n
Both missions were outlined without the use of a Gateway based at EML2.<\/p>\n
Notably, the Gateway would \u2013 as described in several scenarios \u2013 likely be an international effort with international modules, not unlike the International Space Station, potentially involving NASA and international crews as a result.<\/p>\n
As such, it may be no surprise that a European and Japanese astronaut have been inserted into NASA\u2019s next key asteroid training mission.<\/p>\n
NEEMO 16:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Z415.jpg\" "\\"Z4\\"")
In announcing the full crew, NASA astronaut and former space shuttle crew member Dottie M. Metcalf-Lindenburger was assigned to lead the mission, to be assisted by former British Army Air Corps Major Timothy Peake \u2013 who is representing ESA. Major Peake recently carried out his first \u201crun\u201d in JSC\u2019s Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL).<\/p>\nKimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Cornell University professor Steven Squyres \u2013 who was also a NEEMO 15 crew member \u2013 will make up the crew.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/A1110A1.jpg\" "\\"A1110A1\\"")
The latest NEEMO mission will begin June 11, building on lessons learned from 2011\u2019s NEEMO 15 mission \u2013 which was cut short by bad weather \u2013 testing innovative solutions to engineering challenges allowing astronauts to eventually explore asteroids.<\/p>\n\u201cNEEMO is the best space exploration analogue used in official astronaut training, followed tightly by ESA\u2019s cave training programme,\u201d noted astronaut trainer Loredana Bessone from the European Astronaut Centre. \u201cWhen I dived down to the underwater habitat, it looked exactly how I imagine a lunar base will look like.<\/p>\n
\u201cAquanauts were \u2018floating\u2019 around in slow motion, performing repairs and mounting equipment. I could not take my eyes off the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/B15.jpg\" "\\"B15\\"")
Adding to the realism of a deep space mission at an asteroid, NASA\u2019s Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) will be involved once again, treating actual EVAs (or Waterwalks) during NEEMO 16 as if it was in deep space by utilizing communication delays and protocols.<\/p>\nThe MOD team will be based in a mobile Mission Control Center (MCC).<\/p>\n
This NEEMO expedition will also focus on restraint and translation techniques, and optimum crew size.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Z510.jpg\" "\\"Z5\\"")
The crew of four will spend 12 days living 63 feet below the Atlantic Ocean\u2019s surface on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s Aquarius Reef Base undersea research habitat.<\/p>\nWith further NEEMO missions to follow, it is hoped the lessons learned from the underwater missions will remove some of the guesswork for the teams ahead of a real mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to look out into the future and understand how we\u2019d operate on an asteroid,\u201d said Mike Gernhardt, NASA astronaut and NEEMO principal investigator. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to make a bunch of guesses about what you\u2019ll need and then get to the asteroid to find out it won\u2019t work the way you thought it would.<\/p>\n
\u201cNEEMO helps give us the information we need to make informed decisions now.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Images: Via L2 content from L2, NEMMO and NASA)<\/p>\n
(L2 is \u2013 as it has been for the past several years \u2013 providing full exclusive Exploration Planning coverage. To join L2, click here: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/l2\/)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NASA, ESA and JAXA astronauts will all be involved in the upcoming NEEMO 16 (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) mission. The asteroid training mission \u2013 set to take place near the Florida coastline in June \u2013 comes at a time NASA managers continue to refine their deep space plans. Missions To An Asteroid: The underwater training exercises are staged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[419,8969,8958,7873],"class_list":["post-40152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-gateway","tag-nea","tag-neemo","tag-neo"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40152"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}