Asteroid Capture

In response to your first comment, I agree that we need to get some real
world numbers. Who in this group would like to propose a known NEA as a
candidate for orbit alteration from Earth-crossing to Earth-centered at
~350 km altitude? Once we have a proposed candidate we need to select a
(real) propulsion system for the spacecraft to be used - ion drives have
high Isp and low thrust (fuel efficient, but slow), chemical rockets
have higher thrust but much lower Isp (faster, but a gas hog). The ion
engine requires a source of electrical power such as solar panels or a
nuclear reactor. Generally, there is tracking data for larger NEA's only
( 20 meters and up - the larger they are, the better the data is
usually). I could propose Apophis [Apophis will pass within 0.09666 AU
(14.4 million km) of
the Earth in 2013]. Its diameter is about 270 meters (a very approximate
guess), its composition, and thus its mass, is not known with any
certainty at all.

So - everyone get on the internet, log on to NASA or your favorite NEA
site, and pick the asteroid you'd like to see circling the Earth.

In response to your second comment, any and all of your suggestions are
good, Brooks. Pick your favorite one or try them all.

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "brooksn" wrote:
>
> I don't know how generous 0.7 km/s is for an already Earth bound
asteroid getting nudged into our 'perfect' slot, maybe its generous and
it isn't workable or maybe its conservative and we'll need to move it
less. I very much agree we need someone to do real numbers.
>
> Again though the question is how do we (you, me and others here)
advance the ball on space settlement? If we pick cheaper access to space
how do we do it? Buy shares of SpaceX or Bigelow? Talk to congressman?
Work on subsystems that will be needed in the short term? Give money to
space organisations, National Space Society, etc.?