YU 55 ...missed opportunity

It seems to me that NASA, China, India, Japan, and Russia have all missed an opportunity. It seems this was a good chance to cheaply land a craft and essentially hitchhike a ride thru the cosmos. At the same time they are saying it is a carbon based asteroid. Thus finding important info on building blocks of life.

www.csmonitor.com...

>>The meteorites, known as carbonaceous chondrites, have up to 5 percent of their composition tied up in complex organic compounds, including ready-made amino acids. Collisions with carbon-rich asteroids early in Earth's history could have delivered some of the organic compounds that gave rise to life on the planet, researchers say.

Who said the private space projects haven't taken the opportunity?
They don't have to tell any of us what they are doing out there.

You are probably right, we could have at least stuck a good 360 camera on it. It would have been a fantastic show.

reply to post by BlackProjects


Missed an opportunity???? It's traveling at 30,000mph, how do you suppose they do that, land a craft on an asteroid moving 30,000 mph?? They can hardly get a good shot with a camera!

Isnt nasa planning to land on an asteroid to set up a lab within the next few years? This could of been a perfect opportunity but preparation for this would take years! There are other more important and crucial things happening around the world for them to land on YU55

The OP brings up a very good point, It would have been an excellent ride through the cosmos, if they could have pulled it off. I dont know if the other space agencies through out the world thought it might of been like landing a fly on a bullet though. YU55 is moving pretty darn fast, and I'm not sure they didnt have enough time to get something prepared for a mission like you point out. Still would have been worth a try IMO. they missed this one, and thats to bad, bc it could have shown where it went through deep space, what the asteroid was like on the surface and much more, cool post

We did it before
en.wikipedia.org...

I guess the lack of gravity poses a problem..still..

Originally posted by BlackProjects
We did it before
en.wikipedia.org...

I guess the lack of gravity poses a problem..still..

Yeah, and the lack of speed technology to even come close to catching up with an asteroid ahh pure comedy

It would be amazing if they were able to land on it and set up an HD camera! But one thing, what if the asteroid makes impact with another asteroid or planet and the camera goes boom..

Originally posted by PlanetaryDuality
It would be amazing if they were able to land on it and set up an HD camera! But one thing, what if the asteroid makes impact with another asteroid or planet and the camera goes boom..

Or, what if the vehicle carrying the camera fails to make it to orbit and goes splash? It's happened before. There's an awful lot of stuff involved in a launch, YU55 may not be the best target for a space agency at the moment. Also, we could just put something on its own orbit separate from YU55, it isn't like we have to land on something to send it through space. Look at the voyager vehicles, they're a long way out there, all own their own. I don't really think an HD camera would be that exciting though, I mean really, there isn't much to look at without some zoom going on. And, as far as zoom, we've got space telescopes up there already.

I have often thought we should put a few more cheaply made landers on asteroids that have regular or semi-regular orbits as cheap fuel.

But I am sure this has been suggested and the amount of effort, money might be better spent on orbiters instead...who knows there should be more amateur and public involvement in scientific endeavours as there are many things the boffin/eggheads overlook!

It has been done, but it takes a lot of time and effort, and normally the asteroid must be selected to be in a specific orbit, and position so that the spacecraft can actually rendezvous with it. It is all about trying to rendezvous with it, using a small amount of fuel, but here are some missions that rendezvoused successfully with asteroids or comets.

here is a list of all the spacecraft that came close to - or landed on asteroids
historicspacecraft.com...

Here are links to missions that rendezvoused with asteroids or comets
Stardust (Collected samples)
Deep Impact (crashed an impactor on asteroid)
NEAR (Landed)
Hyabusa (sample return)

Missions that plan to land on - or orbit asteroids
Dawn (just orbit)
Rosetta (Land)

reply to post by mileslong54


All other logistical nightmares aside, speed would not have been the limiting factor in this intercept, given enough notice. The current record for fastest man-made object is 150,000 mph after using a gravity-assisted boost around the sun: Helios. And that was in the 70's. More recently New Horizons left Earth with an escape velocity of over 35,000 mph.

reply to post by BlackProjects


I don't understand how this would be beneficial:

....essentially hitchhike a ride thru the cosmos.

The asteroid follows essentially the same orbit as the Earth. It takes about 422 days to make one orbit, compared to our 365 days. It is getting the same "view" as we are here.

The only aspect of your idea with merit is the opportunity to examine it and find out what it's made of. But, as mentioned, there are already long-term plans in place for that sort of mission already. On other asteroids.

Besides, asteroid 2005 YU55 is going to be around for a long, long time....if anyone is that interested in the little sucker, they will have more chances.

Stupid clueless articles existing on the internet are crap, belittling what such object could have on Earth, if collided. Even such object of diameter ~400m with the Energy measured in Joules (J) could cause an impact and even invoke an earthquake or tectonic movement if hit the earth.

It is too low on the horizon, can be seen between 17-19h these few days between Libra and Ophiucus. The constellations are low on the horizon and emerge on the horizon only for a short time if in the Northern hemisphere. The more you are on the South, the higher on the horizon will Libra and Ophiucus be for you in the air.

Originally posted by mileslong54

Originally posted by BlackProjects
We did it before
en.wikipedia.org...

I guess the lack of gravity poses a problem..still..

Yeah, and the lack of speed technology to even come close to catching up with an asteroid

ahh pure comedy

LOL, apparently you're unaware of how space works. Speed isn't a major factor with nearly 0 resistance. The space stations floats by at a mere 17,500 MPH.

reply to post by Bearack


NASA and JPL can't even get a clear picture, but yeah let but something on the asteroid....

reply to post by mileslong54


It is very, very small, and has been millions of miles away!!!

But, by same token, try to get a telescope photo of Mars....or, Neptune. Or, Pluto.

Yet, we actually LAND spacecraft on Mars (Because, we know where it is, it is predictable).

We've flown by Neptune, and the other gas giants. Landed on Venus, orbited Mercury. And, a spacecraft is en-route now, to Pluto....for the first close-up photos of that dwarf planet. Arrival in 2015.

Originally posted by mileslong54
reply to post by Bearack

 

NASA and JPL can't even get a clear picture, but yeah let but something on the asteroid....

remember, this pic isn't an optical picture, but a RADAR-image, that is why the resolution isn't that high, but it gives you an good idea of its shape, possible contents (very reflective materials), etc....

Does anyone know what time this thing is supposed to pass by us (or smash into us)? Inquiring minds want to know, thanks!