2002 AA29

Greetings,
There is another near-earth asteroid, 3753 Cruithne, which is closer to
being a natural satellite of Earth. It orbits the Sun with the same average
period as Earth does, and Earth's mass perturbs its orbit, but it does not
directly orbit Earth. There are many web sites, for example,
www.astro.queensu.ca/~wiegert/3753/3753.html, where you can find more about
it. Search for Cruithne on Google.com for the others.
I believe it would be cheaper to use the Moon than to change the orbits
of these objects, though. And the Moon has plenty of mass and water (ice,
at the poles). Just staying on less massive objects would be a problem,
where if one kicked up some dust, owing to the low gravity, it would take
months to "settle out".
Cheers, Jay Huebner

Statement by Pete Worden, Peterson AFB, CO, July 10, 2002
MILITARY PERSPECTIVES ON THE NEAR-EARTH OBJECT (NEO) THREAT
"
There is an interesting concept to consider. If we can find the
right small object in the right orbit we might be able to nudge it
into an orbit "captured" by the earth. This would make a NEO a
second natural satellite of earth. Indeed, there is at least one NEO
that is close to being trapped by the Earth now, 2002 AA29. If such
an object were more permanently in earth orbit it could not only be
more closely studied but might form the basis for long-term
commercial exploitation of space. Moreover, a very interesting next

"

Ron