Kalpana One design (was Rotating space colonies)

On 10/3/10 1:16 PM, brooksn wrote:

> > Not if you're still talking about capturing an asteroid into Earth
> > orbit. We're talking about a 300-ton asteroid that ranges from 0.7 to
> > 3.6 AU from the Sun. You're not going to circularize that and match
> > Earth orbit just by parking a spacecraft next to it.
>
> But there's no need to circularize it first, as long as it comes on a
> close approach to Earth, adjust it a little so it hits the Earth's upper
> atmosphere. Perhaps add a heat shield so you aerobrake better and reduce
> losses.

Yikes! I didn't realize you were talking about aerobraking it.

Even if you could get that through politically, I'm still a bit
skeptical about it though. Usually aerobraking is done in several
passes. But in this case, any given NEA is only going to pass close by
the Earth every century or so -- even with nudging, I doubt you could
finish the job in less than decades.

Not trying to be a nay-sayer here, just being realistic. I do think NEA
mining will be important at some point, but it will be very much a
long-term enterprise (and I suspect we'll be sending the mined materials
back rather than trying to capture the whole asteroid).

Best,
- Joe