NASA weighs asteroids, and leave the lunar surface behind?

When I read this article I immediately thought why not go the moon and try to land on some asteroid what is logic of that ? Well the Chinese are planning a trip to the moon and also other countries want to step stone on the moon ,
Why suddenly does NASA divert from the original plans ?

NASA Weighs Asteroids: Cheaper Than Moon, But Still Not Easy 1. Richard A. Kerr Summary Rather than first returning astronauts to the moon before heading off to Mars, NASA will be aiming for near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) as steppingstones in the human exploration of deep space.

Science aaas


Maybe this could be the answer?




Any ideas ?

In the long run asteroids would probably be more valuable and contain more resources than the moon.
They are rich in many different elements.
I guess they want to get a foot hold where the real money will be made

reply to post by pazcat


Mining?

Not only do the asteroids possess a good deal of physical resources they have very shallow gravity well that has to be surmounted. Even thoug the moons gravity is roughly 1/6 that of earth's, it's still much steeper than any asteroid wr know of.

reply to post by 0bserver1


Of course, it's the natural progession of the space industry really if you think about it.
Certainly it would be the best way to recover costs of going into space, much in the same way Virgin Galactic should have an effect on the industry. It's all about profit.

Plus I wouldn't imagine taking a heap of mass from the moon as being a terribly bright idea.
This is all in the distant future I would imagine though.

reply to post by pazcat


Would be a hell of a job to place all that mining equipment on that asteroid , And they have to pick one thats suitable enough and also passes earth once and awhile ?

It would be easier to bring the asteroids to the mining equipment.
That would make more sense.

reply to post by pazcat

Well I think that mining asteroids has to be an unmanned operation, I don't see the point of sending people to mine asteroids thats something you can better leave to robotics .