NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission

Abstract

NASA is examining concepts for the Asteroid Redirect Mission, in which the agency would launch a robotic spacecraft to capture and redirect an asteroid into a stable orbit in the Earth-Moon system. This would be followed by an early use of the powerful Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle and Orion crew spacecraft to ferry astronauts to retrieve samples and return to Earth. NASA is examining two options for the robotic segment: one to redirect a small asteroid to a lunar distant retrograde orbit (LDRO) and another to extract a cohesive mass from a larger asteroid and return it to this same orbit. A preliminary set of mission objectives includes opportunities for planetary defense deflection demonstrations. This brief chapter describes the mission concepts currently under examination in preformulation, including aspects and potential applications to planetary defense.