NASA Plans Mission to Bennu Asteroid

This is where the sample brought back contains an alien disease that wipes us out :)
 
Let's hope NASA doesn't have another incident like the Genesis sample return capsule. A design flaw in the deceleration sensor failed to trigger parachute release which cause the capsule to hit the ground at 193 mph. :eek:
 
AceGoober said:
Let's hope NASA doesn't have another incident like the Genesis sample return capsule. A design flaw in the deceleration sensor failed to trigger parachute release which cause the capsule to hit the ground at 193 mph. :eek:
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Well mistakes are part of the business. The Japanese joint program was very successful , so I'm NASA can do it right. We have to remember NASA recently landed a car sized rover with a brand new kind of landing system that was extremely risky and achieved this with flying colors on a planet that is known for eating rovers before they land.
 
Waiiit so it's planned to reach the asteroid in 2018 (in 5 years) and return in 2023 (5 years later)? Either they are slowassing it on the way back or this is a cover up and it will be a rock from the New Mexico desert! :eek:
 
DeathPrincess said:
Waiiit so it's planned to reach the asteroid in 2018 (in 5 years) and return in 2023 (5 years later)? Either they are slowassing it on the way back or this is a cover up and it will be a rock from the New Mexico desert! :eek:
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They have to use gravity assist to get around the solar system. Its FAR cheaper than full on propulsion to and back. It also depends on where the Asteroid is located during the time it meets the probe. Its not like everything is perfectly still and waiting to be sampled :)

Ion engine's are great but they take too long to get up to speed at the moment. If it wasn't for gravity assist we would not have even made it into the deeper parts of the solar system by now.
 
Don't sweat it. All this talk about 'going to an asteroid' is just bluster. It'll never happen if, for no other reason, it doesn't have any support/enthusiasm within the NASA community.
 
Godmachine said:
They have to use gravity assist to get around the solar system. Its FAR cheaper than full on propulsion to and back. It also depends on where the Asteroid is located during the time it meets the probe. Its not like everything is perfectly still and waiting to be sampled :)

Ion engine's are great but they take too long to get up to speed at the moment. If it wasn't for gravity assist we would not have even made it into the deeper parts of the solar system by now.
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So it's really a rock in the New Mexico desert left over from the 2nd alien crash site? :eek:
 
would be cool to go to an asteroid. could definitely see that alien disease thing that galvin mentioned
 
I totally get how cool it is and all that, but how much money does this cost? Shitty health care, high taxes and starving people couldnt make better use of the money? Eff space and fix whats goin on down here first. We can go visit aliens any time.
 
NIVO said:
I totally get how cool it is and all that, but how much money does this cost? Shitty health care, high taxes and starving people couldnt make better use of the money? Eff space and fix whats goin on down here first. We can go visit aliens any time.
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This has been brought up many times when it comes to scientific exploration. You cannot spend everything on specific problems down here only because spending on them is merely a band aid, not a solution. There is no progress in feeding starving people. Not to say we shouldn't do it, but it shouldn't be the only thing we do because ultimately we need to progress.

We are spending on the problems down here. It's just that we have to spend on scientific advancement too and the time delay between discovery and application is far longer than any one of us can predict, so we can't say that's pointless, lets put more band aids down here.

A good example would be the research on quantum mechanics. Decades ago people said the same thing when we spend money to build particle accelerators to study the physics of tiny fundamental particles. There is no direct relation between the physics at such microscopic scale to our everyday life, it seems to be a pointless endeavor. No one at that time could understand what use such abstract knowledge could have.

But today, our understanding of quantum mechanics allows us to build microprocessors which are vital in practically everything we do today, from entertainment to economics to saving lives.
 
Sorry for the lack of edit:

Just wanted to add that advancing the space frontiers does have it's on benefits too the same way research in other science field does. I believe there are books out there on spin-offs technology that are practical to our daily lives today that came from NASA's space exploration such as the moon landing.

IIRC, one example would be the one came from our aim to land on the moon. Such mission required NASA to develop precise laser technology to allow docking in space. That laser technology allows others to develop it into something that was used in eye surgery.
 
DeathPrincess said:
Waiiit so it's planned to reach the asteroid in 2018 (in 5 years) and return in 2023 (5 years later)? Either they are slowassing it on the way back or this is a cover up and it will be a rock from the New Mexico desert! :eek:
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"Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's (drug store, you Yanks), but that's just peanuts to space, listen..."
 
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