Star Points for November 2011 by Curtis Roelle Aquanauts Path Finding for Asteroid Journey A group of international astronauts and aquanauts have been performing underwater simulations in preparation for a possible future manned journey to an asteroid. Because all asteroids possess a small size, low mass, and weak gravitational field compared to Earth, an undersea training facility is being used where participants take advantage of water's buoyant quality in simulating working on the surface of an asteroid body. The training facility is located 60 feet below the water's surface about 3.5 miles offshore of Key Largo, Florida. The Aquarius Underwater Laboratory (UAL) has so far been used for 15 "aquanaut" expeditions in the NASA Extreme Environmental Mission Operations (NEEMA) program. NEEMA is a joint venture between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. In October, a 13-day NEEMA expedition had to be cut short due to Hurricane Rita. Among its six- member crew was veteran astronaut Shannon Walker. In 2010 Walker spent 163 days in space on Expedition 21/22 of the International Space Station (ISS). NASA and its contractors are developing a human-capable spacecraft for a variety of missions to possible destinations including the Moon, asteroids, and eventually, Mars. The heart of the Multi- Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is the Orion capsule. At the U.S. Rocket Center at Huntsville, Alabama, this summer I saw a full-sized Orion mockup. It resembles the conical Apollo command module (CM) that carried men to and from the Moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s. However, the CM carried three persons whereas the significantly larger Orion seats up to six. In one hypothetical asteroid mission nicknamed Operation Plymouth Rock, two MPCV spacecraft join nose-to-nose and journey off to a near-Earth asteroid. As the spacecraft performs "station keeping" a short distance from the asteroid, an astronaut will spacewalk to the asteroid using a Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) backpack similar to those previously used on several space shuttle missions. In a more advanced plan, NASA sends a new spacecraft along with the MPCV. The Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV) would support various configurations depending on the target body. One configuration equipped with stubby legs and a remote manipulator arm would gingerly land directly onto an asteroid, permitting tethered astronauts to disembark. Tethering is required to prevent the astronauts from drifting away in the asteroid's weak gravity. The idea of astronauts working in water or "neutral buoyancy" environments have been around since Buzz Aldrin led the way and made Maryland history. He used a 75-foot pool at the McDonough School in Owings Mills while training for his own 1966 space walk on the Gemini 12 space mission. The NEEMO project is helping NASA flesh out the procedures and techniques allowing humans to operate safely on and around an asteroid. These include methods for anchoring to the asteroid surface, establishing and maintaining a connection to the anchoring system, and collecting scientific data and surface samples. Because of the delay in communication between Earth and a manned crew on a distant asteroid due to the finite speed of light, a 50-second delay was inserted into transmissions between Aquarius and NEEMO's mission control center. The farthest humans have traveled from Earth is to the Moon. On lunar missions the communications delay due to light speed was just over one second. So how soon before a person sets boot or glove on an asteroid? In its current plan, NASA is targeting the year 2025. The candidate asteroids will be relatively puny, up to a little larger than a football field across. Which asteroid will be targeted depends on many variables, with schedule being a key factor. The mission is by no means a done deal. NASA's shifting focus is in reaction to direction at the top. In 2004 then-president George W. Bush directed NASA to return humans to the Moon by 2020 and eventually speed on to Mars at some future date. In 2010 president Obama replaced Bush's plan with his own. In it he also replaced the lunar effort with a manned asteroid mission in 2025, followed by humans going to Mars in the mid 2030s. An earlier manned Mars effort was proposed by George H.W. Bush in 1989, but was canceled by Congress. There will be at least two and as many as four new administrations in power before the 2025 target date is reached. Between now and then the goals may change and shift several more times.