How Humans will Land on Asteroid

A team of NASA scientists led by Jonathan Jiang predicted that the first humans will land on Asteroids in 2073. Landing humans on asteroids may appear like a Science Fantasy to many people. However, Scientists like Jiang and co are already seeing the technical possibilities of reaching such a milestone in the future.

In fact, Travelling beyond low earth orbit on a manned mission is already achievable with our current space Technologies. However, the reason we are yet to commence on the journey as we still have to prepare for this historic journey to Mars and beyond.

So how do we land on Asteroid? Why should we even consider manned missions to asteroids? Which asteroids will humans visit in the future? This article explains how humans will land and explore an Asteroid in the future. Let’s get started.

So Why should humans visit Asteroids in the first place?

You may see manned missions to asteroids as a waste of time. But future Scientists will have a lot to benefit from this trip. Manned missions to asteroids are essential because of the following reasons.

1. Mine the asteroids

When we begin to build colonies on Mars, we will see the need to transport essential materials from earth to the red planet. But since there is an abundance of gold, magnesium, nickels, palladium, iron, platinum, and other natural resources on these asteroids, we may not see the need to transport them from the earth.

Instead, Martian Astronauts will jump onto their spaceship and visit the asteroid belt to mine these resources. Keep in mind that the asteroid belt lies between Mars and Jupiter. So it will be easier to reach these asteroids from Mars than by traveling to the belt region from earth.

But why should humans mine asteroids when robots can do the job? The mobility and creativity of humans cannot be compared with that of a robot. Although robots will likely get better in 2073, we still need humans to visit the asteroid belt in the future.

2. Learn more about the formation of the solar system

The asteroid belt held many mysteries about how the solar system was formed. A visit to this region will reveal more mysteries and enable us to understand more about the universe.

3. Unveil other mysteries about the Solar System

Scientists revealed that asteroids have the potential of transporting life. They could possibly kill us all within an instant. So a visit to Asteroid will upgrade our knowledge on how to protect Earth, Mars, and other moons we will colonize in the future from Asteroid impact.

Which Asteroids Will Humans Visit in the Future?

Landing on Asteroid will be quite challenging. Unlike planets, asteroids move across space at high velocities. To be specific, Near earth asteroids travel at 25km per second. But if we are talking about landing humans on asteroids, we should be looking at celestial objects in the asteroid belt. Keep in mind that asteroids within this region in space exist in different sizes and shapes.

So we are considering landing humans on these rocks, we should consider the bigger asteroids. The biggest celestial objects in the main belt region include Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea. Ceres is the biggest object in the asteroid belt with about 950 km in diameter.

Due to its size, Scientists graduated Ceres from being an asteroid to a dwarf planet. Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea all have diameters less than 600 km. So they are still referred to as asteroids. If we should consider landing humans on asteroids, Ceres may be our first target.

Scientists revealed that Ceres contained water, which is a good sign for microbial life. There are a lot of materials we can mine from Ceres. Although Ceres may be our first target, we will still attempt to reach other big asteroids within the reg

How Can We Land on an Asteroid?

NASA Dawn Space probe became the first to successfully explore giant asteroids within the asteroid belt. After its launch in 2007, it visited Vesta in 2011 before visiting Ceres in 2015. After its retirement in 2018, Dawn has continued to remain steady in the orbit around Ceres.

The data returned from this mission educated us about bigger asteroids in the main asteroid belt. Before we think of sending humans to the asteroid belt, we must have sent other space missions to land on Ceres and explore the dwarf planet. These robotic space missions will prepare a landing site, minerals to mine, and other stuff that will simplify manned missions to the dwarf planet.

The spaceship that will commence with this journey may likely blast off from Mars or Earth. This implies that we must colonize Mars before thinking of traveling beyond Mars. But in 2073, we must have attained this milestone. The Astronauts aboard the ship must have participated in numerous training to prepare for this mission.

Unlike exploring Mars, Ceres, and other objects within the asteroid belts are not classified as a planet. So the Astronauts should be prepared to experience complex challenges during the mission and when they finally arrive in the main belt region.

They will be accompanied by sophisticated space robots that will make asteroid mining much easier for them. If we have become Technologically advanced to build spaceships with artificial Gravity in 2073, they will not find the journey much stressful. Scientists revealed that it will take up to a year to reach Ceres from the earth. But since Ceres is closer to Mars, it will be much easier to reach the dwarf planet from the red planet. 

Once they land at the marked landing site, they will explore the dwarf planet and see things for themselves. Upon completing the mission, the Astronauts will be on the way back to Mars or Earth to share the outcome of their visit with the entire world.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading to the end. Always keep in mind that manned missions to asteroids may likely happen in the future. Just like we visited the moon in 1969, we will also reach a distant space world in the future. It is not a matter of how, but when it will happen.

But the success of these missions beyond Mars has to depend on how fast we colonize the red planet. Do you believe that humans will ever visit and colonize Asteroid in the future?

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